ADAM Henley says the Blackburn Rovers players who threw away the club’s 13-match unbeaten run must take the blame for their midweek cup exit – and do their best to put it right at Blackpool on Saturday.

A second string Rovers side, including fit-again full back Henley, crashed to a woeful 1-0 home loss to Scunthorpe United in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.

It was the Ewood Park outfit’s first competitive defeat since they went down 1-0 at home to Bournemouth on March 12 and it has led to questions over Gary Bowyer’s decision to make 10 changes for the first-round clash.

But Henley insists it is the players who must shoulder the responsibility for the cup upset – and not Rovers boss Bowyer who labelled the performance as the ‘worst’ of his 15-month reign.

Henley, who was making his first appearance since March 22, said: “I completely agree with what he said.

“We never got going and we played nowhere near our potential.

“We’re all disappointed and we’re going to have to take a look at ourselves in the mirror after that.

“We had a very strong side out there so we can’t make the excuse of all the changes being the reason we lost the game.

“We trained with each other and the potential was there to get a good win.

“We’re all aware of the run we have had and we didn’t want to be the ones who ended it. So everyone is disappointed and now we have to get back to training and do everything we can to get back to winning ways.”

Rovers get the opportunity to do that on Saturday when they make the trip to Lancashire rivals Blackpool.

But Henley accepts the majority of the side who took to the field against Scunthorpe are unlikely to retain their places for the Championship clash.

He said: “I know a lot of people will be disappointed with themselves.

“It was a chance to put your name forward for the first team on Saturday and these are the chances you’ve got to take.

“Everyone is disappointed with the result and the performance and we’ll just have to get back into training and go again.”

A furious Bowyer let the Rovers players know in no uncertain terms that their display against Scunthorpe was not up to scratch.

And after delivering his dressing room dressing down he re-emphasised the need to strengthen his squad.

Bowyer said: “It just highlights the need to bring more bodies in.

“There’s nothing more on that but we’re working very hard and we’ll keep going.”