Valencia manager Gary Neville has insisted that his side put in their "best performance of the season" against Sporting Gijon, despite falling to a 1-0 home defeat.

Neville is still searching for his first La Liga win in charge of the club, with that streak now extending to eight matches courtesy of this afternoon's loss to their relegation-threatened opponents.

However, despite admitted that it was the "most disappointing result" yet during his tenure, Neville believes that his side should have comfortably won the game and insists that there are positives to take from it.

"I can sleep at night knowing there has been improvements structurally in the team, but we should have won that game four or five-nil in my opinion. I think I've had 14 matches here and that was a performance I can relate to," he told reporters.

"I find it difficult to explain. I just sat there with the players and coaching staff for 15 mins trying to understand what actually happened on the pitch. It's obviously the most disappointing result of the season here but it doesn't tell the story of the game, which was the best performance of the season. It's a game we shouldn't lose, you all know that.

"It's a big disappointment but we don't have time to be disappointed, we have to ride straight away again on the bike. I told the players in the dressing room to not allow that to colour their minds. I feel much better after that performance than I did after the Rayo or Getafe matches (which ended in draws), even though they were better results."

The defeat leaves Valencia still 12th in the table and 19 points behind fourth-placed Villarreal.