NEIL Warnock felt a 5-0 scoreline was a harsh reflection on his team's efforts at Ewood on Saturday -- though he admitted that Rovers' overall quality counted for too much in the end.

The Sheffield United boss blamed his side for conceding gift goals but also felt that, at 2-0 down, they had some great chances to get back in the game.

"While it's a 5-0 drubbing on paper, I don't think Simon Tracey has had a save to make apart from picking it out of the net," said Warnock.

"Yet Alan Miller has pulled off one or two brilliant saves. So you have to look at the pluses.

"The minuses are that certain players were way off their game.

"I just think we lost a few generals when it was 3-0. We knew at 3-0 it was only a matter of how many they were going to score.

"It was no good saying we could get back in it.

"But, if we could have got a goal back at 2-0, I would have liked to have seen the way they would have reacted.

"And we had some great chances after half time to make it 2-1.

"There were long periods where we had a lot of the play and, in the first half, we had a number of chances to score goals.

"If you don't score, you know that the quality players they have will get goals.

"But they didn't really have to work hard for their goals, I thought they were gifted on a plate.

"We thought Murphy was fouled for the first goal but we know we are clutching at straws really. We were beaten by a better side and better quality players.

"You could tell it was going to be one of those games."

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