Blackpool pitch is a problem but no excuse for defeat by Oxford says manager Terry McPhillips

Terry McPhillips was disappointed by Blackpool's display against Oxford

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While McPhillips insists he won’t use the deteriorating surface as an excuse, he believes it has had an impact.

The Pool manager said: “I don’t think the pitch helps. We are trying to play some nice football with some good footballers but it’s hard to do that.

“We want the full-backs to give us width. If we had got a nicer pitch it would have been easier to shift it quicker.

“We still should have done better, it’s no excuse. We didn’t play as well as we know we can.”

There was a worrying lack of creativity against the U’s as Blackpool saw their seven-game unbeaten run come to an end in disappointing fashion.

McPhillips’ men struggled to make goalkeeper Simon Eastwood work and their only genuine chance of the game fell to defender Curtis Tilt, who failed to find the target with an off-balance header from close range.

“That’s not like us – there were not enough shots on target,” McPhillips added.

“There were lots of crosses but they defended brilliantly and they defended for their lives.

“They put their bodies on the line, which is not quite what we saw on Tuesday at Accrington (where Oxford lost 4-2).

“They’ve rallied and they’ve done well, so credit to them, but we’re going to have to do better.

“I thought there were quite a few off it, as many as we’ve had in the past.”

Asked whether he got the team selection right, McPhillips replied: “I haven’t got that hindsight but we selected a team we felt was good enough to win the game and cause them more problems than we did.

“We caused them some problems and we got the ball in the box.

“They defended so deep we had to go long and diagonal at times but fair play to them for defending so well.”

Given how strong his Blackpool side had looked in training in the days before the game, McPhillips said he couldn’t have foreseen such a lacklustre performance.

“Sometimes you can’t fathom it out like that,” he said.

“If you had seen the lads on Thursday and Friday in training, they were in superb form and they looked full of confidence.

“They had a chance to back up the last couple of weeks but it wasn’t to be, so we’ll have to go again at Bristol Rovers on Saturday.”