Blackpool pair face an FA Cup fitness fight

Blackpool are sweating over the fitness of both Curtis Tilt and Ollie Turton ahead of tomorrow's night crucial FA Cup replay.
Ollie Turton is a doubt for Blackpools FA Cup replay with Solihull Moors on TuesdayOllie Turton is a doubt for Blackpools FA Cup replay with Solihull Moors on Tuesday
Ollie Turton is a doubt for Blackpools FA Cup replay with Solihull Moors on Tuesday

The Seasiders face Solihull Moors at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday night, with a third round home tie against Arsenal at stake.

Tilt failed to recover from a hip injury in time for Saturday’s game at Oxford United, where Blackpool slumped to a 2-0 defeat.

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Turton, who netted an own goal for Oxford’s first goal, was then brought off at half-time complaining of a tight hamstring.

“I think we’ll have a lot better idea on Sunday with Tilty,” McPhillips said.

“I know he’s desperate to play on Tuesday, so we’ll see.

“As for Turts, he was just coming off, that was it. It was tight enough for him to come off.

“He was gutted and I don’t think he’ll be alright for Tuesday.

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“It wasn’t a precaution, it was just that it was too tight and that was that.

“It was a hell of a header from him (for the own goal), unstoppable.

“We’ve just watched it five times and it’s swirling around, it’s hard to defend because it’s a hell of a ball in and it’s going to cause havoc and it did.

“But their lad has fouled him, that’s my opinion.

“There’s contact and he’s not even going for the ball, he just bumped in facing the other way.

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“But that’s football. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t.”

Michael Nottingham was left out of the squad altogether at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

However, McPhillips confirmed that was just down to team selection and nothing else.

He added: “Notts is fine, we’ve just got a lot of players.

“We had a 20-man squad so Steve Davies and Notts missed out but both could have easily been on the pitch or playing.

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“That’s the dilemma you’ve got when you’ve got players coming back and a big squad to choose from.

“If Tilty is back, we’ll have the same problem on Tuesday.”

Due to Tilt being missing, Pool reverted to a flat back four against Oxford, with McPhillips opting against bringing Paudie O’Connor into the back three.

Prior to being brought off at half-time, Turton started the game at right-back, having previously performed so well in midfield against Charlton Athletic last week.

Explaining that decision, McPhillips said: “It was a really close decision in the end.

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“Paudie is desperate to play, we just chose to play the 4-3-3 and it could have been a success.

“Of course we considered keeping Turts in the centre too. You’re trying to get different players playing and you’ve got to plan for the week ahead.

“I don’t think you can play the same team when you’ve got three big games and we won’t, so we’ll have to see what we do for Tuesday night.”