Blackpool boss explains thinking behind strike partnership against Cambridge United

It was a game of few chances, as Sonny Carey’s first half strike proved to be the difference between the two teams. The visitors did force a good save from Dan Grimshaw and hit the post in the latter stages, but did little else to threaten.

Meanwhile, the Seasiders started Jake Beesley and Kylian Kouassi as their starting front two, with goal scoring opportunities for the pair proving scarce,

Discussing the thinking behind their selection, Blackpool boss Neil Critchley said: "We thought with them (Cambridge) defending deep and putting lots of bodies behind the ball, there wouldn’t be space for Kyle (Joseph) and Shayne (Lavery) to run into.

“It’s not easy to break them down or go through them, so you’ve got to go over them. I think we’ve got a lot of success going into Bees (Jake Beesley), and him knocking it down to Sonny (Carey) or into Kylian (Kouassi).

"We also wanted to work the ball into wider areas and cross the ball into the box- Bees and Kylian give us that aerial threat. As the game opened up, we brought Kyle and Shayne on to capitalise on that space, but unfortunately they didn’t.”