GORDON Strachan shrugged off the acute disappointment of ending up as an FA Cup Final loser by telling his players: I'm proud of you.

The Saints boss insisted the squad who have achieved so much this season were a credit to themselves and the club at the Millennium Stadium.

Though it was Arsenal who cavorted around the stadium with the FA Cup, Strachan believed his side had earned respect.

The boss had insisted in the build-up to the club's first FA Cup Final appearance for 27 years that it wasn't possible from his position to enjoy the day if Saints lost.

"I meant what I said, you can't enjoy it if you lose but you can be proud," he said. "Today we competed and we have come off the pitch with respect. The players can go away and look their families and friends in the eye and be proud of what they have done.

"We kept our performance going right to the final minutes.

"I don't mind admitting that we were outplayed on occasions, but I've seen Arsenal do that to many other teams before.

"I knew Arsenal were going to make chances. They are one of the best club sides in Europe and Thierry Henry is probably one of the best strikers in the world.

"If you make a third of the chances that Arsenal make in a game you know you've done well, you know you've had a good game."

Despite the absence of world class performers such as Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira, the greater resources Arsenal have over clubs such as Saints still gave them a match-winning edge.

"On a good day, on a lucky day, we could have got something," said Strachan. "You just have to look around their team to see what we were up against. We were giving away greater individual skill, greater strength, greater speed and greater experience of these occasions.

"When that's the case we have to do what we're good at by working very hard and by having huge hearts, and that's what we did.

"We needed a massive bit of luck to have won, and we didn't get that."

Strachan believes the whole Cardiff experience, despite the defeat, will benefit his squad.

"It will be easier for us to win in the future now we have tasted what it's like to lose on these occasions. You need to taste defeat in order to come back and win," he explained.

"It's been a good experience for us. I have said to the players they have achieved a lot this season. They have finished higher in the Premiership than they have done before, they have reached the FA Cup Final, and they have qualified for European football next season.

"In addition, they are playing in front of 32,000 fans at every home game in a lovely new stadium.

"They can be proud of what they have achieved, and I'm very, very proud of them."

He added: "The players have done something for themselves this season, and they have given themselves some fabulous memories.

"I would like to think we can learn from all this.

"Next season is all about improving - we have to try and do better than eighth position, we would like to get more points, and we'd like to come back to this place because it's been a magical experience."

Strachan was keen to hand out praise to young right-back Chris Baird. The Northern Ireland under-21 international was making only his second ever first team appearance, a week after his first start at Manchester City.

Strachan decided to "gamble" on Baird, which freed Paul Telfer to play right midfield, to combat the strength of Robert Pires.

Of Baird, Strachan said: "He was absolutely superb. The two of them down that right hand side, Baird and Paul Telfer, they were both first class.

"I knew in my mind that Chris would be playing in the final about two minutes from time when we lost at Highbury.

"I knew we needed more strength down that side of the field to combat Pires. I knew it was a gamble, but as I said, I thought Baird and Telfer were first class. Baird especially handled the situation well considering it was only his second start.

"It was hard on Fabrice Fernandes, he's played virtually every game this season and it was unfortunate for him.

"When I told him he took it well.

"I know what it's like. When I played in Scotland I played in all the matches leading up to a cup final and then I was 14th man for the final, and that was in the days when we only had one sub so I didn't even get to play. I know what it's like.

Strachan also paid tribute to Saints' superb support.

"I have come here for finals when Liverpool and Manchester United have played and their fans have just left the stadium straight away at the end when they've lost," he said.

"Our fans loved the whole day, and it was great to see. When Arsenal lifted the trophy I thought we were going on a lap of honour because of the noise our fans were making!

"The entire cup run has been something that everybody connected with the club - the players and the fans - can look back on and be proud about. Hopefully we can all learn from it. It's an experience you must have if you want to go on and win things."

Asked about the threat of man of the match Thierry Henry up front, he said: "My two centre-halves are lying in the dressing room like dead bodies.

"They played against one of the best strikers in the world, and they did all right. But it's aged both of them four years in 90 minutes!"

Strachan continued: "I'm a proud man and it hurts to see your team get beat on an occasion like this.

"If we could have had a wee bit of luck and got an equaliser who knows what could have happened.

"I thought Brett Ormerod's shot at the end was in, and I thought Beattie's header was in as well.

"To win we knew we needed to create chances, and we knew we had to take some of them, but we couldn't.

"My boys were fit for extra time, and if we'd equalised we could have been the stronger in extra time. Who knows how many knocks Arsenal could take?

"Arsenal are used to these sort of occasions, they know what it's all about. I said to my players at half-time that we needed to stick to the game plan but we needed more passes. We were getting pushed deeper and deeper.

"We needed to get the ball out wide and get crosses in, because the more times the ball was in their area then the better chance we had."

Strachan had said in the days leading up to the final that there was no point Saints trying to play Arsenal at their own game.

"We were playing one of the best club sides in the world and we needed to be realistic. That means playing reality football.

"If we'd tried to play like Arsenal then we would have lost easily. We knew we had to try and contain them.

"To beat Arsenal I knew we needed a bit of luck. I feel we had a bit of luck early on but we needed a bigger bit of luck to have had more of a chance.

"It's nice to have had an underdog here. I don't think clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool fully appreciate what it's all about.

"Our fans were out to make a great day of it - our end was full about an hour before kick-off while there was hardly anybody in the Arsenal end.

"The FA Cup is like that - it makes you feel like a champion for a day, and that's what we've felt like.

"I hope we can get up to the next level as a team, I'm sure some of the players can.

"For me the final turned out much as I thought it would - with Arsenal having plenty of the ball and making some chances, but us working hard and having some chances as the match went on."

Strachan was asked about his close-season plans to strengthen Saints' squad. "If our injuries don't improve then we need to bring some new faces in," he remarked. "You can't ask the boys to keep on running like they have this season, despite all they have achieved.

"Beattie and Ormerod have played in most of the matches this season, and they have been fantastic.

"Beattie looked sharp in and around the box on Saturday.

"But we were asking a lot of him - we were asking him to lead the line but also to come back and defend when he could, but it's been a great season for him."