Blackpool strikers Jerry Yates and Gary Madine in the image of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke? Boss Neil Critchley hopes so.

After scoring a last-minute winner for Blackpool at Peterborough United on Saturday, Madine revealed that he and Yates are being referred to as “the new Yorke and Cole”. The two even share a WhatsApp profile picture, with their heads superimposed onto the bodies of the former United duo.

Madine and Yates have excelled together up front in recent weeks, Madine scoring three goals in his last two outings and Yates four in his last five.

And head coach Critchley told The Gazette: “If they play like Yorke and Cole I’ll be happy, that’s for certain. If they get their number of goals I’ll be even happier.”

Of the cheeky photo, he added: “I think that’s Gary’s doing but I’d have thought it would have been Shearer and Ferdinand with him being a Newcastle fan.

“If that makes them feel better and they’re happy about it, then fine. They’re both scoring and they’re both contributing, so long may that continue.”

While Madine and Yates are both enjoying a rich vein of form, Critchley says it’s no foregone conclusion they will continue to play up front together.

Speaking ahead of tonight’s visit to Doncaster Rovers (7pm), he said:“I’ve been clear that I’ll pick the team or the formation that will give us the best chance of winning the game.

“You’ve only got to look at the teams we’ve picked in the last six to eight games to see I wouldn’t be afraid to change it.

“At the moment, those two are working well together, but Gary scored the winning goal on Saturday when Jerry was off the pitch and we were playing 4-3-3.

“They’re both in good form and both scoring goals, but we’ve got a lot of games coming up and it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to play every game together.

“I’ll pick the team I feel is the right one to play against different teams because different teams provide different problems.

“In the Burton game, which was the first game they played together, we felt that was the right team to play in that game. Since then they’ve done well together.”

The Seasiders have also been in impressive form at the other end of the pitch, conceding just one goal in four outings.

“That stems back to the work we’ve done in pre-season and what we’ve done on the training ground,” Critchley said.

“We’re quite versatile. We can change shape and play in different formations, and still be a team that is hard to beat.

“I would say we’ve been a very hard team to break down and play against, other than in the Ipswich game – we got severely punished that day because they were very clinical and scored with all four of their shots on target, which doesn’t happen very often.

“We don’t concede too many chances but it also helps when we’ve got 11 players on the pitch, so when we’ve done that we’re a hard team to play against.

“And with the attacking players we’ve got, we know that if we’re hard to play against we’re capable of scoring goals at the other end of the pitch. That’s starting to happen now.”

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