Angry Neil Critchley blasts his Blackpool side for failure to put 10-man Hull City to the sword

A furious Neil Critchley blasted his Blackpool side for their failure to put 10-man Hull City to the sword and make it three wins from three.
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Hull City 1-1 Blackpool: Seasiders waste golden chance to make it three wins aft...

The Seasiders looked to be heading to their fourth win in five games thanks to Shayne Lavery’s superfly-taken first-time strike.

But the game flipped on its head 10 minutes from time when the struggling Tigers, who haven’t won since the opening day of the campaign, were reduced to 10 men in the 80th minute.

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But the dismissal seemed to spur the home side into life and Tom Eaves came off the bench to level matters four minutes from time.

Neil Critchley’s side still had chances to retake the lead in the dying minutes, but they were unable to make the most of their opportunities.

Speaking to The Gazette after the game, Critchley was unable to hide his frustration.

He said: “How do I feel? Angry if I’m honest.

Blackpool boss Neil CritchleyBlackpool boss Neil Critchley
Blackpool boss Neil Critchley

“I didn’t like us at all in the second-half. I thought we were far too passive and whether we’re playing against 11 men or 10 men, I felt they were going to score and there was a goal coming.

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“Even though we defended the box well, we limited them to few clear-cut chances but I just didn’t like us.

“We allowed too many crosses, too many corners and we stopped doing what we were doing in the first-half.

“We didn’t have any control in the game, we were playing on the counter-attack and our counter-attack play was diabolical, which has been an Achilles heel of ours.

“It’s two points dropped, the game was there to be won. But we’ve allowed them to come back into the game.

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“It was almost like it was too comfortable for us and in this league, you get punished against good players.

“Hull stayed in the game, showed good fight and I don’t begrudge them a point at all.”

The main frustration for Critchley was his side’s failure to make the most of a number of promising counter-attacking situations.

Time and time again the Seasiders would work the ball into threatening areas in the final third, only for their decision-making to let them down.

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“It wasn’t just one player, it was numerous players. There were too many touches, poor choices, poor quality,” he added.

“Wayward shooting, missing the target...it just wasn’t good enough.

“I’ve praised the players a lot during my time here and deservedly so, but not many times do I lose my temper because I don’t think it’s warranted, but tonight I did. I think I was justified.

“We’ve only got ourselves to blame for drawing the game.”

Eaves’ equaliser, which came in the 86th minute, was even more frustrating given it originated from a Blackpool corner.

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“It’s a horrendous goal to concede, especially when we’re playing against 10 men,” Critchley said.

“It comes from our corner. Garbs is running across the pitch having taken the corner and we play the ball into him and he goes down.

“They then break, we didn’t deal with the ball on the halfway line and there was far too much space inside the penalty box where Garbs would have been defending, but it was a breakaway. That shouldn’t have happened.

“We could have even lost but Maxi pulls off a fantastic save and then we could have won it as well.

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“I felt as though we were going to score right near the end, we had quite a lot of opportunities but as was par for the course tonight, our final ball and our shooting let us down.

“That has been something that has been evident in some of the other games this season. You look at Barnsley on Saturday at 1-0, Fulham 1-0, when you have the opportunities to make those games 2-0 you have to take them.

“These players want to play at this level, stay at this level and improve, then we have to do better than that, it’s as simple as that.”

Josh Bowler made a difference off the bench, having the beating of his man on a number of occasions.

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But while the winger got into some great positions in front of goal, he was unable to convert one of his three chances.

“I thought he was really lively when he came on. We knew he would be in the last 20 minutes or half an hour of the game,” Critchley said.

“He’s come inside and one has hit Jerry, he’s put one wide and there was another one near the byline when he engineered some space on his right foot.

“You could say it was bad luck, but it’s happened too many times for it not to be bad luck. When does bad luck become poor play? Tonight it’s poor play.”

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