I'm very proud of the lads," he said after the 5-0 thrashing.
"All I asked of them beforehand was that they gave it 100% and they did that.
"We probably had more shots on goal today than we've had in the last three or four months, but we were up against a quality side at this level and they were very clinical.
"We knew it was going to be tough and it got even tougher when we let a goal in early on.
"I thought the first half was pretty even apart from the two goals. If Huckerby had been playing for us who knows what would have happened."
Merson also confirmed that he would be continuing in temporary charge: "The chairman spoke to me after the game and asked me to carry on and I said yes.
"I thought there were a lot of positives today and I'm sure we can build on them between now and the end of the season.
"If we win our two remaining home games we should be fine and I think we can do that."