Spurs winger Andros Townsend says there are “no excuses” after Tottenham Hotspur crashed to a 2-0 defeat Chelsea in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley.

Christian Eriksen saw an early free-kick hit the crossbar before Chelsea captain John Terry broke the deadlock shortly before half-time with a deflected shot.

The Blues doubled their lead when Diego Costa’s shot was deflected by Kyle Walker past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Jose Mourinho’s side then saw out the game to lift the trophy.

England international Townsend said after the match: “Everyone’s extremely proud of each other. We’re a new team, a young team and we took one of the best teams in Europe all the way.

“We were playing the better football (in the first half), neither team really created an outstanding chance but territorially we were probably just edging Chelsea and for them to score just before half-time dejected us but, coming in at half-time, we still thought we were in the game.

“We’d been in this position many times before and we thought if we get a goal, we can go on to win the game. But unfortunately they scored a in the second half from a deflection.

“They’re one of the best teams in the world for seeing out games and I think they did that in the second half. We’ll learn from that, we’ll come again. For most of us, this is one of our first experiences of a final so it will stand us in good stead if we get to Wembley again.

“It was a bit of fortune at the end of the day. Just before half-time they get a deflected goal and it changes the game. Maybe if we get that luck with Christian Eriksen’s free-kick, it’s a completely different tie and we’re lifting the cup at the end of it. I can’t fault us – it was just one of those days.”

Spurs came into today’s game on the back of a 2-0 defeat against Fiorentina in the Europa League, and Townsend says the trip to Italy had no impact on his team’s performance today.

“We’re not going to make excuses,” he said. “The manager had to rotate a bit on Thursday so everyone that played today was fresh. We gave Chelsea a good go and on the day it wasn’t good enough but we’re not going to make excuses. We’re not going to put the blame on anyone else.

“If you want to be one of the best teams in the world you’ve got to play midweek so we’re not going to complain, but now it does give us a focus and a chance to train a bit more, to come into games a bit fresher. But hopefully we’re good enough to score fourth place.

“Everyone went into the game today extremely fresh, nobody felt tired from the game on Thursday so we’re not going to make excuses. “

Out of the Europa League following the defeat to Fiorentina, Spurs can now concentrate on pushing for fourth place in the Premier League and a Champions League place next season.

“We’re out of two competitions but it just makes us more hungry to fight for fourth place in the Premier League,” said Townsend. “It’s all to play for now. We’ve got no excuses about the schedule or Thursday-Sunday games. It’s just a straight weekend games from now until the end of the season and hopefully we’re good enough to get fourth place.

“We came into the game with confidence but it wasn’t meant to be. We’ll go again. We’ll have many occasions to play in finals, this is a young team and hopefully this is just the start.”