'Isn't acceptable' - Blackpool boss Ian Evatt's blunt message to players following capitulation at Lincoln
Ian Evatt has criticised his players for they way they capitulated in the latter stages of their game against Lincoln
Blackpool boss Ian Evatt was in no mood to defend his players after a late collapse led to them being on the wrong end of a 4-0 loss at promotion-chasing Lincoln, writes Matty Wright.
The Seasiders gave as good as they got for the majority of the contest at Sincil Bank and had their fair share of chances against a side unbeaten on their own turf since October and surging towards promotion to the Championship.
Evatt’s task has always been to prevent the Bloomfield Road side from dropping out of League One in the opposite direction, but the defensive fragility that has dogged their season – going back before his appointment in October - reared its head again in the final 15 minutes.
Evatt said: “To capitulate like that isn’t acceptable.
“We’ll try and give the players as much as we can, but it’s about time they started taking responsibility because Steve (Bruce) before me tried to protect them as much as he could.
“I’ve now tried to protect them as much as I can, but sometimes you need to tell the truth and today they’ve let everybody down with their focus, second half.
“We were in the game and then after an uncharacteristic mistake, once again we’ve gone under, and going under at this football club is not the right thing.”
A big turning point in the game was Niall Ennis spurning a golden opportunity to equalise after 71 minutes, with Evatt feeling the final score did not reflect how the match played out, despite anger at his team appearing to throw the towel in towards the end.
He added: “It was never a 4-0 game, I thought we had control in the second half and I thought for 70 minutes we were extremely competitive in the game.
“That one mistake completely rocked us, it gave them confidence and belief and somehow we’ve managed to lose the game 4-0.”