West Ham United U23 coach Dmitri Halajko says their EFL Trophy campaign has been a valuable experience.

The Irons are out of the tournament after defeat to Exeter City.

“It was a really tough one for us, a really tough game," Halajko told whufc.com.

“We struggled to get going, while they dominated the game in most areas and deserved the win.

“Result-wise and performance-wise it wasn't great for us, but we did have, hopefully, some great learning opportunities. We had around five players play at this level for the first time, players who have never featured in this competition before, so we should get a lot of development from it, and a lot of lessons to go and improve with."