Blackpool keeper Chris Maxwell admits: The penny has to drop

The Seasiders slumped to a sixth defeat in their first nine League One games on Tuesday night, going down 1-0 away to AFC Wimbledon.

Neil Critchley’s side, who ended the game with nine men, showed plenty of heart and had chances late on to snatch a point.

But while keeper Maxwell insists Blackpool’s attitude can’t be questioned, he says he and his teammates must begin to show more than they are.

“It was a tough game, a tough one to take,” the Pool number one said. “Without blaming anyone else, without blaming the referee and only looking at ourselves –we’ve got to be more clinical.

“Yes, there were incidents in the game that put us on the back foot and we were always going to concede chances with 10 and nine men.

“But it’s a difficult one for us and the penny has to drop at some point to ensure we come away with victories.”

The Seasiders were undone far too easily for Wimbledon’s goal, Sullay Kaikai and Demetri Mitchell switching off to allow Callum Reilly the chance to cut inside from the right before firing past Maxwell.

He added:“In the lead-up to the goal, we’ve got to do better as a group. Letting the lad come inside and get a shot off at goal – anything can happen in the box.

“You could say that little bit of luck is not going for us at the moment but equally we can be better within those moments.

“There’s no question about our desire, our commitment, our effort. But in professional football that isn’t enough sometimes.

“We’ve got to express ourselves. The ability we have on the ball, that we show every day in training, we’ve got to show in games, it’s as simple as that.”

Blackpool now face a crunch encounter at bottom side Burton Albion on Saturday and Maxwell knows full well the fans need to see improvements.

“We’ve been saying we’re being hard done by too much, since the start of the season to be honest,” the 30-year-old said.

“It’s there for everyone to see. It’s not like we’re not creating chances.

“We’ve created chances with nine men away from home but we’ve got to stick at it. We have no other option.

“We believe in the group but individual errors are costing us. That is going to happen at times but we have to make sure we take our chances.

“Burton on Saturday is another tough test. Every game in this league is going to be tough.

“We’ve got to find the positives from this game and take them into Saturday.”

Blackpool stand 18th in the table but have only one more point than the Brewers.

Maxwell said: “There’s no respite. Burton aren’t going to show us any sympathy, so we’ve got to dust ourselves off and go again.

“We’ve got to put in a good performance against Burton, and when those moments do happen we’ve got to be on the right side of them.”

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