Omar Beckles says while the West Ham late loss hurts at the moment he is confident the Reds will learn from it and move on.
The defender admitted it was emotional running out onto the London Stadium as his dad, who died last year, was a Hammers fan.
But he enjoyed the experience despite star Dimitri Payet's 96th minute winner and knows the Reds will build on their EFL Cup exploits and hopefully move up League Two.
"It was a great experience on Wednesday, it was a bit sour at the end as we believed we could win the game and believed we could have got a result," said the 24-year-old defender who signed from Aldershot in the summer.
"But it was a great occasion and I think, when we look back on it, we will enjoy the experience.
"It was overwhelming running out onto the London Stadium, it was nervy and it was emotional for me. I got a chill with the 'I'm forever blowing bubbles' song because of my dad.
"I had a couple of chances but I couldn't get the power on my shots but that's something I will work on.
"They have immense quality in their squad - you only had to look at their subs like Payet - and that proved the difference with the goal. We were disappointed to concede the free kick, especially with them down to 10-men due to injuries, but we have got to take the positives."
Now the full focus is on facing Colchester away on Saturday, with the squad staying down south ahead of the game.
"We have to take the things we did right on Wednesday and move on and hopefully get three points on Saturday," added Beckles. "You could see we were tiring against West Ham but we will be rested and our main focus is the league."