Paul Cox: "We gave Liverpool too much respect"

Mansfield Town manager Paul Cox has criticised his side for giving Liverpool "too much respect" in their narrow 2-1 FA Cup third round defeat on Sunday.

Cox refused to blame the controversial winning goal from Luis Suarez and instead said that Mansfield let themselves down with their performance.

"I thought we let ourselves down, we gave Liverpool too much respect," BBC Sport quotes Cox as saying.

"For the first half an hour, we were playing the occasion and not the match. We have had a good go against some of the biggest names in world football and we have to take that forward now."

Mansfield are currently third in the Conference.