Blackpool show naivety by playing into Steve Evans' hands: Matt Scrafton's verdict on the Seasiders' abject defeat at Gillingham

The Seasiders showed naivety in succumbing to their second league defeat in just three games, both of those losses coming on their travels.

Saturday’s defeat had parallels with the opening day reversal at Plymouth Argyle too, Neil Critchley’s men unable to find a way through and break the opposition down after suffering a nightmare start.

Former Blackburn Rovers forward Dominic Samuel, who I’m led to believe Blackpool looked at earlier in the summer, was the main beneficiary of some horror defending, scoring both goals on his Gillingham debut.

It’s fair to say Michael Nottingham won’t be wanting to watch the goals back. Having ballooned a clearance up in the air and out for a corner under no real pressure, which led to Samuel’s fourth-minute opener, the defender then pulled out of a challenge at the start of the second half which allowed Samuel the time and space to pick out the far corner for his – and his side’s – second.

While Nottingham wasn’t the only poor performer on the day, the 31-year-old suffered the ignominy of being hauled off just seven minutes into the second half. Whether or not this results in Critchley returning to the transfer market to find another centre back, as has previously been mooted, we’ll have to wait and see.

Considering this is the first time Blackpool have really performed poorly from start to finish under Neil Critchley’s tutelage, should we be concerned? Or is this just a one-off?

In all three league games so far this term, the Seasiders have made slow starts. Against both Plymouth and Gillingham they found themselves a goal down with barely four minutes on the clock. They were on the backfoot for a good 15 minutes against Swindon Town but thankfully they managed to survive the early pressure without conceding.

In conceding so early on in their two away games, they subsequently gave themselves mountains to climb and, while enjoying plenty of possession on both occasions, they were unable to convert that territory and dominance into goals.

At Plymouth, however, Pool were excellent, creating a number of clear-cut opportunities only to rue some wasteful finishing in front of goal.

On this occasion, at a bitterly cold Priestfield Stadium, Critchley’s men struggled to carve out any openings and were nullified fairly comfortably by Steve Evans’ men.

That will be a cause for concern, as it will provide a blueprint for other teams in League One in how to beat the Seasiders. It’s all well and good having the ball, but it doesn’t matter a great deal unless you can do something with it. As a frustrated Critchley said post-match, you get no extra marks for winning the beauty contest.

Nevertheless, I don’t think this is the time for knee-jerk reactions. Blackpool were soundly beaten and can have no complaints with the result, but this shouldn’t undo their good work so far. They’re not the first and they certainly won’t be the last side to fall into Steve Evans’ trap.

While Blackpool were guilty of a little naivety at times, and lacked a bit of experience and extra know-how, they weren’t helped by a weak referee.

When you come up against an Evans side, you know full well they’re going to employ all the tricks of the trade.

We saw 6ft players collapsing to the ground on a regular occurrence under the slightest of touches, while the physio must have been on and off the pitch as often as the matchball. Guess what? The man in the middle fell for it every time.

Speaking of the official, what good is it walking over the touchline to give Evans and his assistant Paul Raynor a talking-to in the 90th minute of the game? Shouldn’t you try and clamp down on their antics early on? Just a thought.

Either way, Blackpool didn’t lose the game because of the referee nor Evans’ effing and jeffing in the dugout.

They lost the game because they played into Gillingham’s hands, conceding a woeful early goal that gifted the hosts the opportunity to sit back and frustrate them.

Blackpool subsequently enjoyed 70 per cent possession, a completely meaningless stat given they did diddly-squat with it. Only late on, when the game was already as good as over, did they ever come close to scoring.

While it was Pool’s defensive mistakes, glaring ones too, that proved costly, Critchley will also be frustrated by how blunt his side looked in attack.

CJ Hamilton, so often Blackpool’s biggest threat going forwards, was well marshalled by Gills full-back Connor Ogilvie. When he did get himself into good positions, his final pass let him down.

Bez Lubala, who was perhaps slightly fortunate to retain his place in the starting line-up given the return of Sullay Kaikai, had an afternoon to forget, running into blind alleys and conceding possession over and over again.

Jerry Yates, meanwhile, cut a frustrated figure. I’m still struggling to recall an occasion this season where the 23-year-old, who has yet to notch a competitive goal for his new club, has had a clear goalscoring chance created for him.

While that’s slightly misleading given the striker plays a slightly different role to your normal number nine, given he’s also in the team for his constant pressing and link-up play, the Seasiders need to be creating opportunities for the man that is spearheading their attack.

Then again, it would be nice if Blackpool were able to create chances for any of their players given this weekend’s disappointment. Must do better.