BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes blamed poor defending for his side's FA Cup exit at the hands of West Ham United on Saturday.

Rovers crashed out of a second cup competition in four days when they got beat 4-2 by the Hammers at Upton Park.

And Hughes was particularly critical of the way his team defended as they shipped four goals for the first time since they lost 4-2 to Chelsea at the end of October.

"We pride ourselves on our defensive work and the way we close people down but we didn't really do that as well as we can do," said Hughes.

Rovers had made the perfect start, scoring after just 25 seconds courtesy of a tap-in from David Bentley.

But then West Ham were offered a route back when the referee, Martin Atkinson, controversially awarded a penalty against Zurab Khizanishvili in the 32nd minute, which Teddy Sheringham duly converted, and the home side never looked back after that.

"I've not seen the penalty yet but, obviously, from talking to our players, they felt it was a harsh decision," said Hughes.

"We started off well enough. It was the perfect start from our point of view.

"But, on reflection, that early goal maybe galvanised West Ham and they got back into the game very quickly after that.

"I thought we had a lot of the play but defensively, we weren't quite at the level we usually are, and what we pride ourselves on, and that ended up costing us in the end."

Hughes stopped short of singling out Khizanishvili, even though the Georgian had an afternoon to forget, conceding the penalty and scoring an own goal.

The Rovers boss said: "You're not going to highlight a guy individually and this is not the time or the place straight after the game.

"But we review every game we play and we go through it. I was more concerned with our general defending and we slipped from the level we are usually at.

"We've had a difficult week. We've had three really hard away games and I think that took a little bit of the edge off our game.

"When you are playing a side such as West Ham, who are very accomplished at home, you have to be at a level which enables you to get up to the ball and stop them building attacks.

"They've got some powerful players and maybe our energy levels were a little bit down on where they needed to be."

With Rovers out of both cups, Hughes and his players are now free to concentrate on the league.

And, determined to ensure the season doesn't fizzle out for Rovers, Hughes has set his players a top six target.

"We won't allow the season to fizzle out," said the Rovers chief.

"This was just a consequence of a really emotional week and I think today was a really difficult game for us, given the circumstances before it.

"But we've got some big games ahead of us and some real opportunities to consolidate our position, and even improve it, so we've got a lot to play for from now to the end of the season.

"We've got a really hectic programme coming up, starting on Wednesday against Manchester United, but it's an ideal game for us and we'll pick ourselves up and go again.

"It's very important we get back on track in the league as quickly as possible."