A disappointed Steven Staunton looks on as his team lose to Chile

The Republic started with a 3-4-3 formation but switched to four at the back after a poor opening 30 minutes.

"We experimented but it didn't work out and we have learnt from it - we know what we can and can't do now," he said.

"We finished the game strongly but when you start badly it takes a long time to get over that."

Staunton added: "There were a lot of positives. Young (Aiden) McGeady came on and did well, Stephen Kelly made his debut and Kevin Kilbane filled in at centre-half.

"The players are disappointed but we have to look forward to what's going to happen August and September."

Man-of-the-match Kevin Doyle admitted it was a "bad way to finish the season".

"It's always disappointing to get beaten, we didn't get out of the blocks early and it continued from there," said the Reading striker.

"It's a bad way to finish the season after beating Sweden 3-0.

"A couple of the lads haven't played for three weeks, myself included, whereas they have been training. We were a yard off the pace at times.

"We had a couple of chances, nothing too clear-cut, but they put theirs away. They are a very good team."