DAVID BUTTON was gutted the chance to be a hero slipped through his fingers.

The Albion goalkeeper came within millimetres of keeping out Mo Salah’s decisive penalty in the 1-0 loss in front of a record crowd at the Amex.

The 6ft 2in stopper did all he could to make himself look big before the Egyptian took his 50th-minute spot-kick, dancing up and down his line and stretching his big frame before guessing correctly to dive to his left.

The power was too great, though, and the ball hit the back of the net.

While Salah raced to celebrate in front of the Liverpool fans behind the goal, Button himself leapt to his feet and jumped up and down in frustration.

He revealed: “When you go the right way, and get a slight touch on the ball, then you always think what could have been!

“It is a little bit frustrating but at the end of the day it was probably just a touch on my hand.

“It’s just disappointing that I didn’t save it because if you do then you’re a bit of a hero.”

Considering Liverpool’s feared attack, Button did not have too much to do.

He was solid dealing with crosses, got down sharply to save a Salah strike at his near post after the break and had one fright when he spilled a Roberto Firmino effort before it fell kindly for his defence to clear the danger.

But was he surprised a side that scored five at the Amex last season, and has now amassed 50 goals in the Premier this term, gave him so little to do?

The former Fulham keeper said: “Not really because I know we have a great defence.

“The way we set up, especially at home, we will give teams real problems in breaking us down.

“I’m just disappointed that we didn’t pick up any points.”

And he admitted the over-riding feeling in the dressing room was Albion deserved more for their disciplined efforts.

He added: “There is a lot of frustration.

“We limited their chances and had our own opportunities, so it is quite hard to take.

“To put all that effort in and come away from nothing is quite hard to take.”

Liverpool had 70% of the ball but, penalty aside, Button felt the Seagulls’ plans to combat the leaders worked well.

“We knew they were going to have the majority of possession so it was about making sure that when we had the ball we were as effective as possible,” Button said.

“It was a case of dealing with their movement in attack and putting enough pressure on in midfield so they could not pick out the passes that they wanted.

“For the majority of the game we executed that really well but we just didn’t get the rub of the green.”