Why Blackpool skipper and former Peterborough midfielder Ollie Norburn earned special praise on his return at Bolton

Neil Critchley has revealed Ollie Norburn played through the pain barrier as he hailed his skipper’s welcome return to action at Bolton on Saturday.

The 31-year-old was back in the Blackpool starting XI for the short trip to Wanderers, having missed the previous five games with a neck injury.

The former Peterborough man put in a typically-forceful display for the Seasiders as he put his recent injury woes to one side. However, a first-half coming together with Bolton striker Dion Charles resulted in Norburn taking a painful blow to the ribs, which threatened his involvement in the rest of the game.

After being sat on the sidelines for the past four weeks, though, the summer signing refused to take the easy option out and battled on to complete the full 90 minutes at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

And it was that attitude, plus is overall display on a welcome return, that earned praise from Critchley.

The Blackpool boss said: ‘I’m definitely (chuffed to have him back). He’s been out for 3-4 weeks so for him to come back and play 90 minutes was a big effort for him.

‘He’s actually taken an elbow in the ribs first half and he was in discomfort at half-time, so for him to carry on and get through the game shows you everything you need to know about him.

‘Yeah (we need to monitor him carefully). Obviously, with Kenny Dougall being suspended we were hoping Nors would be fit. 

‘He was desperate to play. He trained and he put himself forward. I thought he had never been away, to be honest. But I thought there were quite a lot of good performances from us. Individually, I didn’t look at any player and think he’s not there or he’s not at it.’