Nahki Wells admitted he was “gutted” that his Wembley debut was cut short by Matt Duke’s red card.

City’s top scorer was expected to offer their biggest chance of upsetting Swansea in the Capital One Cup final and becoming the first team from the fourth tier to win a major trophy anywhere in Europe.

Instead, Wells was left a marginal figure by the Premier League side’s complete control of possession – and his Sunday afternoon was ended early after Duke was given his marching orders for bringing down Jonathan De Guzman.

Phil Parkinson sacrificed the striker to bring on back-up keeper Jon McLaughlin when City went down to ten men.

It was a huge blow for Wells, who was backed by a mass of Bermudian fans, but he accepted that it had to be done.

Wells said: “I understood the substitution. It’s football and I’m not going to disrespect the manager’s decision.

“I was gutted because I knew I could have played 90 minutes and I would have done all I could.

“I thought the red card was harsh, to be honest with you, and the referee could easily have given a yellow – and we had to suffer the effects.”

There was a smattering of Bermuda flags among the City fans in the stadium as Wells became the first player from the island to appear in a main domestic final.

“I’m proud to say I’m a Bermudian and all the support has been fantastic,” he said.

“There was a good number of Bermudians here – family and friends and even people that I don’t know. I saw Bermuda flags all around the ground, so I’m just thankful for the support.

“Hopefully I can have another chance to come back in a few weeks (in the play-off final) and some more Bermudians can be in attendance.”

Despite losing by a record margin for a League Cup final, Wells refused to be too downcast after a memorable run which included victories over Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa.

And he believes the taste of Wembley will make City even more hungry to go back in May for the League Two play-off final.

“I’m still really proud of what we’ve accomplished coming this far,” he told the Bermuda Sun.

“It’s upsetting to come to Wembley and lose 5-0 but there are a lot of positives to take and we made history.

“We went out there and did the best we could. Obviously it wasn’t good enough but we’re going to strive to come back in a few weeks for promotion.

“We knew what we were getting into, coming into the final. Swansea keep the ball well and they scored at a crucial time just before half-time and that probably put it out of our reach.

“We did the best we could but the best wasn’t good enough.”