Orient were dumped out of the FA Cup and cut down to size by the Blades on Tuesday night, after daring to threaten an upset.

Martin Ling’s team were one nil ahead at the end of the first half of the third round fixture against Championship side Sheffield Utd.

But Kevin Blackwell’s team quickly buried the tie in the early stages of the second half with a flurry of three goals in 10 minutes.

Two goals from Greg Halford and one each from Billy Sharp and Kyle Naughton saw Utd ease into the fourth round with a 4-1 win.

Afterwards, Ling rued the sloppy play which was exploited by the visitors.

He said: “We gave Sheffield a helping hand in too many departments, and if you give a team like that a helping hand you’ll get the result we did.

He accepted a share of the blame for the second half capitulation.

“It was a nice set play by us which set them away for the third goal” he mulled. “We use it an awful lot at this place and it works in our league, but not so today.

“The players out there have to make the decision, and my hand goes up as well. I set out the tactics and they didn’t work. And I felt that goal was the nail in the nail in the coffin.

It was hard to predict that Orient would concede four goals in the second half.

Although chances were few and far between, JJ Melligan showed no nerves when he stepped up to fire the host’s ahead on 38 minutes, after Thornton's shot was handled in the box by defender Sam Kilgallon.

“Adam Boyd’s missed too many penalties for my liking” Ling said. “JJ took them when he was at Cheltenham and hadn’t missed one, so we changed it over. That was my decision and that one proved right.

“I said on Saturday that we aren’t going to be judged by Leicester, and we won't be by this game either. It would have been nice to get a win on the board just to build our confidence. But the way the second half went drains the confidence.

"It's up to me and my staff to life the players up and get them raring to go for Saturday.

“I feel that if we play to our potential we can get out of the problem we’re in. I think that was proved in the first 45 minutes of football. But f we play we did in the second half we’re going to stay in the mire.

We have two massive home games now, Bristol Rovers on Saturday, and then Southend, and we need to get the points and get our season moving again.