Cup game at Stoke is no training run for Blackpool vows boss Neil Critchley

The Seasiders head to the bet365 Stadium for their first competitive game of the season, almost six months on from their last one.

With two weeks still to go until the League One campaign gets under way, some have suggested this first-round tie could be used as another exercise to get the players up to scratch.

But Pool’s head coach vows that absolutely won’t be the case. Critchley said: “We’re not treating it like pre-season. It’s a competitive game, a cup competition. We’ve been training for five or six weeks now.

“We originally prepared for our first game being on September 12, with the proviso this cup game could be on September 5.

“It’s been brought forward a week because of international duty, so ideally we would have liked some extra time. But I’m sure Stoke would say the same, even though they’ve just come off the back of finishing the Championship season.

“The situation is the same for both teams. It’s a competitive game and we’ll be ready to go at 3pm on Saturday.”

The Seasiders have enjoyed a strong pre-season, winning three of their five games and drawing with Everton. But now the serious stuff is about to get under way, Critchley is itching to get started.

“It sounds strange calling it a competitive game because I forgot what one of those was – it’s been such a long time,” he added.

“I’m really looking forward to Saturday, even though we couldn’t have asked for a much tougher game at this stage of the competition. I can’t wait to get going.”

Joe Nuttall aside, Critchley will have a full complement of players to choose from.

The striker remains sidelined with a knee injury he suffered in the friendly win at Port Vale a fortnight ago but should be back in training soon.

Critchley said: “Other than Joe we have a clean bill of health, which is always a bonus in pre-season.

“We’ve got the balance right between the physical work, exposing them to game- time and making sure they’re game-ready. That’s really important.

“You don’t want to pick up unnecessary injuries during pre-season and touch wood we haven’t done that so far. I think the players will benefit from that during the season.

“Joe is back running on the grass and has been for the last two or three days. If all goes well, hopefully he can join in training at some point next week.”