Blackpool's injury blow with winger set for a spell on the sidelines

The winger was a surprise absentee from Blackpool’s squad for their 1-0 defeat against Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night.

Pool’s head coach confirmed the 25-year-old, who was a big miss at the New Meadow, suffered a hamstring injury in training.

“He’s injured, he got injured in training so that’s a big blow. He’ll be out for a lengthy period of time,” Critchley said.

“He’s been a very effective player for us this season so we shall miss him, but it gives other players an opportunity and we have to find a solution in that area of the pitch.

“It’s his hamstring and it’s going to be a significant period of time.

“I wouldn’t want to put a time frame on it, because everyone responds differently to treatment and some people are quick healers, but it’s certainly not going to be one or two weeks.

“We’ve got quite a few explosive players in the team and that’s why we recruited those types of players.

“CJ’s injury record is extremely good and he’s played a lot of minutes this year and again, if we had played these games (that were postponed) then I don’t think he would have picked up the injury so it’s a bit of a double whammy.”

Critchley felt Blackpool’s unscheduled 10-day break, owing to last week’s games against Sunderland and Rochdale being called off, had a negative impact on the Seasiders’ display against Shrewsbury.

Pool were slowly out of the blocks on Tuesday night and were well below par in the opening half, which ultimately proved to be their downfall.

While the mini-break might have helped freshen up Pool’s squad, Critchley believes it affected his side’s rhythm.

“It’s frustrating and that was my fear coming into the game and I said that to the players,” he said.

“I said ‘these are dangerous opposition because they’re in form and they’re in the rhythm of playing games and it does make a difference’.

“We used that period to freshen up a little bit but you have to get the balance right between training and playing and we’ve missed the games recently.

“I think that definitely showed in the first half.”

Blackpool had the rare experience of playing in front of 2,000 supporters on Tuesday night, due to Shropshire being in tier two restrictions.

“It was great, although they were a little bit too noisy for my liking,” Critchley said.

“They’re going to be when they’re 1-0 up with minutes to go and they’re cheering the team on to three points.

“It was a really good atmosphere, it was nice to have some noise and some emotion back in the ground but unfortunately we didn’t quieten them.”

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