Blackpool head coach backs Lincoln City to turn around their poor results

The Seasiders make the trip to Sincil Bank this weekend on the back of a 13-game unbeaten run, which has included five straight wins away from home.

It leaves them directly above the Imps in fifth place, one point ahead of Michael Appleton’s players who have dropped away from the automatic promotion spots following a run of just two wins in 13.

“It pretty much typifies every team in this division,” Critchley said.

“At some stage during the season, teams have had good spells and bad spells.

“Lincoln have had a bit of a sticky spell recently – the results suggest that – but when I watch them play, I just think they have good players, they know what they’re doing, they’re well coached and have a good manager.

“It’s like when we played Ipswich, they hadn’t been on a good run of form but they went on a good little spell after beating us. I just think Lincoln will win games at some point.

“They’ve had a bit of a sticky spell but they’re still inside the top six and they’re a good team, so we’re going to have to play very well if we want to get anything from the game.”

It might be a good time for Blackpool to play the Imps, who had to close down their training ground for 10 days and postpone two games over Easter because of a Covid-19 outbreak.

“You never know how they’ll react until they step back onto the pitch,” Critchley added.

“It does become a little bit more difficult to analyse when they’ve not played recently, they haven’t played now since the Oxford game (on March 26) which will be two weeks ago by the time they play again.

“The teams they pick recently normally give you an indication of the team you might face, but because they haven’t played – they’ve had a two-week reflection period – they might have thought of something different, different personnel might be back, so it is a little bit more difficult to plan for.”

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