BLACKFIELD & Langley co-assistant boss Chris Farrell refused to point the finger of blame at any individual after Blackfield & Langley’s sobering 6-0 FA Vase first round defeat at Plymouth Parkway on Saturday.

On paper, it should have been a tight battle between the in-form Watersiders and their South West Peninsula League hosts and, by and large, that is how the first half panned out.

But two individual defensive errors, coupled with some missed chances, saw Blackfield go in 2-0 down at the break to goals by Levi Landricombe and Mike Smith.

Landricombe struck twice more in the second half, along with Smith and Paul Heveran, and Farrell was the first to admit that the management’s decision to switch to a 3-4-3 backfired.

Reflecting on a disastrous afternoon in Devon, Farrell said: “If anything, we started and finished the first half in the ascendancy, but we made two individual errors and both were punished.

“We played Rico Wilson up front first half with Ekow Elliott playing off him and we gambled on a 3-4-3 in the second half, bringing Dan Munday on, and it didn’t work. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the management.

“The third goal was pivotal and, once that had gone in, the score was irrelevant.

“The pitch was extremely heavy, but it was the same for both sides and Plymouth played the conditions better than us.

“Their two front lads are extremely good.

“We probably had about eight chances each and, if we’d taken ours, it could have been 2-2 at half-time. But they defended well, the ’keeper made a couple of good saves and they took their chances.

“Good luck to Plymouth Parkway in the next round.”

Difficult as it was to find a positive from such a heavy defeat, Blackfield can at least focus on the league where they currently trail Sydenhams Premier leaders Salisbury by nine points with three games in hand.

“In a bizarre way – and it’s definitely not want we wanted – being out of the Vase means we won’t miss too many league games,” said Farrell.

“You can dissect Saturday’s game as many times as you want, but we have to learn from it and move on.”

The Watersiders tonight (Tuesday) host Bemerton Heath in the Russell Cotes Cup looking for a repeat of their 5-1 league thrashing of Graham Kemp’s men earlier this month.