Folland Sports manager Danny Bowers admits his team were devastated by their FA Vase second round 3-2 extra time defeat to Cornish side St Austell at Follands Park on Saturday.

A Matt Burt header and a well taken Ashley Jarvis effort saw the Planemakers go into the break 2-1 up.

An injury to new strike signing Nathan Lynch, who joined from Sholing recently, meant Bowers was forced into personnel changes, which altered their game plan.

That, in the eyes of the boss, ultimately cost them dear as the visitors surged back into it in the second period, despite going down to ten men after Jordan Dingle brought down Jarvis in the first half.

Liam Eddy opened the scoring and then struck in extra time to send the Lillywhites through after Neil Slateford had levelled with five minutes left in normal time.

Bowers blamed himself for the defeat.

“I’ve had lots of messages from the players saying they’re devastated,” he said. “But the buck stops with me and I have to take the blame.

“The beauty of hindsight means I can see what I’ve done wrong, but it was the changes I made that cost us.

“The Nathan Lynch change was forced upon us. That changed the game as we weren’t able to retain possession so effectively.

“All three of their goals were preventable – they all happened because of defensive mistakes.

“I could have done things differently – it is a defeat that is hard to take.

“We missed so many great opportunities to win it in extra time – it was frustrating, but we learn from it and move on.”

Bowers is aware that there’s little point on dwelling on what could have been, and is preparing to pick the Planemakers for tonight’s Russell Cotes Cup derby against Sholing in Hamble.

“We can’t stop and think too much about what happened,” said Bowers. “There’s the league to concentrate on and a derby match against Sholing.

Bowers plans to make six or seven changes to his side for tonight’s clash in Hamble (7.45pm).

Lynch is cup tied for the Boatmen clash but is recovering from the groin injury he picked up against St Austell anyway.

Goalkeeper Ryan Gosney will be rested and a number of other players will also be rested or are unavailable.

Meanwhile, the Diaper’s Boatmen are in a rich vein of form, having won four of their last five games.

But have injury concerns themselves and will be deploying an “experimental side” in tonight’s match.