Admission made on Blackpool relegation battle following Reading defeat
Blackpool were defeated 3-0 by Reading at Bloomfield Road.
Blackpool endured a new low on Saturday afternoon - as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Reading at Bloomfield Road.
Following a summer of optimism and excitement, it’s been a summer of disappointment so far for the Seasiders.
A poor start to the season cost Steve Bruce his job on the Fylde Coast, with club legend Ian Evatt coming in to replace him at the end of last month.
The 44-year-old initially won his first three games in all competitions, but things have dipped since.
Prior to the loss to the Royals, there had been a 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion and a 1-1 draw with Leyton Orient - with the latter requiring a late equaliser for a draw against 10 men.
This leaves Blackpool sat 22nd in the League One table, with just 16 points from 18 games.
Despite having pre-season promotion ambitions, it currently looks like the club will be in a relegation battle heading into the second half of the season.
Evatt states it’s important that the Seasiders are realistic about their current situation.
“It’s about ownership, reality and honesty - at the moment that’s where we’re at,” he said.
“There’s no point looking ahead to what might be or where we want to get to, for now it’s about the next game and doing better than what we’ve done today.
“Do I visualise us being in a relegation fight? - I absolutely don’t want that, but now we are where we are, and we have to accept that, and fight tooth and nail to get ourselves out of trouble.”
Evatt’s reaction to Reading loss
Evatt admits he was left frustrated by the way heads dropped in Tangerine following Reading’s first goal through Kamari Doyle, despite having their own opportunities to take the lead before that.
“We cannot be affected mentally by any adversity,” he stated.
“It should inspire and not discourage. The minute they scored, we were completely discouraged and let ourselves down.
“The frustrating part for me is, everything I saw before I came here I saw after going behind today, and it sort of reverted back to type. It’s my job to fix it. I love this club, this is my club, and it hurts me more than anyone else. We have to work hard to make sure it don’t happen again.
“We need help from the injuries, I’ve said that all along. The players we’ve had to pick have been the only option, so we need some of the lads back. This has to be a moment of reset, they have to take all of the critique. I have a firm belief that we can sort this out and get better.
“The defeat as a whole hurts, I hate losing, and I hate losing for this football club. Do I think we deserved to lose 3-0? - Probably not, we had chances we didn’t take. We had a lot of control of the ball, but we were so passive and fearful, we chose to play sideways and backwards instead of taking risks.”