Blackpool 0-3 Bristol Rovers: Terry McPhillips admits Seasiders were beaten by the better team

Blackpool 0-3 Bristol Rovers: Ollie Clarke at the double as tired Seasiders slump to second straight league defeat

A depleted Blackpool side, who were without goalkeeper Mark Howard and defender Donervon Daniels among others, went down to their second straight league defeat.

Pool were fortunate to reach the half-interval interval level, but Ollie Clarke scored two second half goals with a Tony Craig volley sandwiched in between.

Bristol Rovers came into the clash sat 20th in the League One table, having failed to score in any of their last five away trips.

But it was clearly a game too far for Blackpool after Wednesday night's heroic efforts in their narrow 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup.

“They were better than us, they were quicker than us and faster to the second balls than us," McPhillips said.

“Without playing fantastic football, they’ve made us pay for our mistakes. They even managed to miss a few in the first half.

“So we’ll hold our hands up, it wasn’t good enough but we feel there were some reasons for it.

“Well done to them, give them full credit for how they played, and I’ll take it on one of my chins.

“To be fair to Bristol Rovers they’re in a false position. They don’t concede many goals and they keep lots of clean sheets, I think that’s five out of their last eight games.

“We’ve just been beaten by the better team.

“But if anyone knows about football, they’ll know that those three games in a week, Fleetwood leading onto Arsenal, with the travel and recovery, then today, it all adds up. And this is what it equals."