Soccer-Valencia loss to Sporting most disappointing so far-Neville

By Tim Hanlon Jan 31 (Reuters) - Valencia's 1-0 La Liga defeat by Sporting Gijon on Sunday was the most disappointing result this season and was a game they should have won comfortably, coach Gary Neville said. Neville turned his back on a successful career as a television pundit to take up owner Peter Lim's offer to lead Valencia's bid for a place in the Champions League but so far he has failed to win a league match in eight attempts. While Valencia can look forward to a King's Cup semi-final clash with Barcelona on Wednesday, they are down in 12th place and a long way from showing the necessary form to finish in the top four, with a 19-point gap to fourth-placed Villarreal. "It is difficult to explain, I have been 15 minutes with the players trying to understand what happened," Neville told a news conference after the home defeat by Sporting. "It was the most disappointing result of the season. We should not have lost. I have been here for 14 games now and in the last four I have liked the way the team has played. We should have won this game by four or five goals. "I told the players, though, not to let the result be misunderstood. Against Getafe and Rayo Vallecano we drew and I felt there was a lot to be done, but today I felt that we lacked fortune in front of goal and we should have won comfortably." Striker Alvaro Negredo has had a difficult season, falling out with former coach Nuno Espirito Santo and also having had appendicitis. He has been given the backing of Neville and has scored crucial goals in recent weeks but was guilty of missing a hatful of chances against Sporting. "Five weeks ago he was on the back of a five-month spell without playing regularly. He has quality and experience and the goals will come," said Neville. Neville won the Champions League with United at the Camp Nou in 1999 and he feels that playing against Barcelona next is a good opportunity to lift the spirits of the players. "I have good memories of the Camp Nou and I hope that Wednesday's will also be good," he said. "We need to build on today's performance where we showed the right intensity, tackled well and conceded few chances. The only disappointment was the result. The game on Wednesday is the stimulus that we need now." (Reporting by Tim Hanlon in Barcelona, editing by Ken Ferris)