Rob Edwards made no excuses for a performance that “was not good enough”, as Watford exited the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 defeat to MK Dons.

Matthew Dennis and Darragh Burns notched the decisive goals for the visitors in either half at Vicarage Road, with no reply from Edwards’ side despite an improved second-half display.

Clarifying that the fault lies with the Head Coach, Edwards felt it was an “opportunity missed” under the lights against the League One side.

“I take a lot of disappointment home with me tonight, and frustration. I’m disappointed with the result and performance,” admitted Edwards. “I picked a team tonight that I thought could win the game, and would win the game, and it was an opportunity missed. I take full responsibility for that, I made the changes and picked the team, and tonight we weren’t good enough.

“We don’t want to feel like that again. The feeling in the dressing room was not nice, we weren’t good enough without the ball and weren’t good enough with the ball, and we’re going to make sure we’re better come Saturday. We’re going to give this crowd something to shout about.”

Adrian Blake made his professional debut on the night, playing for little under 20 minutes and creating several chances in a bright cameo from the bench. Edwards is keen to give minutes to deserving youngsters, and saw promising signs from the 17-year-old winger’s senior bow.

“I was pleased with Blakey,” Edwards smiled. “I thought he showed some really good personality, some confidence, a little bit of swagger, so I’m pleased for him, he’s a talented young player.

“Tonight was an opportunity to see different players and make some changes, and giving Blakey that opportunity gives us a chance to see him in this kind of environment which is a good thing.”

Queens Park Rangers are next up for the Golden Boys back in the Sky Bet Championship, with a desire to put this result and performance behind the team as soon as possible.

“There will be changes to the team and I hope we can get a similar performance to what we’ve seen so far in the league,” added the 39-year-old. “Clearly we need to improve from tonight so I want there to be a reaction, and I know there will be.”

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