Blackpool boss Michael Appleton on Cardiff City draw, penalty controversy and Gary Madine
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Gary Madine came back to haunt his former club as the Seasiders managed to avoid a damaging defeat to their relegation rivals.
Pressure looked to be mounting on Pool’s head coach when his side dished up a woeful first-half display, where they were fortunate to only go in a goal down.
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Hide AdBut the visitors improved in the second-half in South Wales and levelled when Madine headed home from Ian Poveda’s cross.
Addressing his side’s display, Appleton said post-match: “I could have made a few changes after 20 minutes and I was close to doing that.
“I wasn’t particularly happy at half-time, I made my views very clear to a few players and got the reaction I wanted and needed.
“But listen, they showed the reaction I wanted in the second-half. They were far more aggressive, showed far more belief and I thought the substitutes were great.
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Hide Ad“Whether that was Ian (Poveda) coming on at half-time or CJ (Hamilton) or Bees (Jake Beesley) they made a real impact.
“I was delighted they got at least something of what they deserved because we took a point out of the game but in terms of moments and chances in the second-half we arguably could have nicked three points.”
When asked to put his finger on what was wrong in the first-half, Appleton added: “It was just a lack of aggression, it was almost a fear of the space in behind.
“They had a lot of athleticism in the team and a lot of energy, which is something I spoke about on Friday. They have a bit of pace at the top end of the pitch as well.
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Hide Ad“But sometimes players can get obsessed with space in behind and you forget to apply pressure on the ball.
“We rectified that at half-time by going 4-4-2 by playing forward a little bit earlier and be a bit more aggressive and on the front foot and it seemed to work.”
Cardiff, who remain two points ahead of Pool in the table, felt they should have had a penalty in the first-half when Callum Robinson went to ground after taking the ball past the returning Dan Grimshaw.
But referee Josh Smith instead flashed a yellow card in Robinson’s direction and awarded the visitors a free-kick for a dive.
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Hide Ad“Who knows (if it was a penalty)? I’ve not had a look,” Appleton said.
“I will obviously take a look but the referee has made a decision and he seemed pretty clear straight away because he made the decision very quickly.
“I will leave that for them and the referee to debate.”