Curtis Tilt bounces back in style for Blackpool to earn special tribute from keeper Jak Alnwick

The defender issued an apology to manager Simon Grayson and his team-mates for his reaction to being substituted shortly afterwards.

But Tilt responded in the best way possible on Tuesday, with a man of the match display in Blackpool’s last-gasp 1-0 win at Doncaster Rovers.

The 28-year-old was back to his commanding best as he helped the Seasiders to keep their third clean sheet of the campaign and get back to winning ways.

Goalkeeper Alnwick said: “The defence was amazing but I think you have to give special credit to Tilty coming off the back of a mistake.

“He’s a great lad to have around the dressing room. He’s not doom and gloom.

“He was disappointed with himself on Saturday because he beats himself up.

“I don’t think he was disappointed with being substituted – he was more angry at himself for making the mistake but to put in a performance like he did was amazing.

“When the ball came back to him from the kick-off, it was one of those moments again but he played a brilliant pass and got us going straight away.

“Tilty especially was amazing but I thought the whole unit, from the front to the back, were brilliant defensively.”

Armand Gnanduillet scored the stoppage-time winner to bring an end to Pool’s five-game winless run.

The striker came off the bench to head home Liam Feeney’s pinpoint cross in the 93rd minute.

It capped off an impressive return to form for Grayson’s men, who defended well against their previously unbeaten opponents.

Alnwick added: “I think it was a perfect away performance. We were under pressure at times but we sat in and defended well, and we hit them on the counter.

“We had a couple of good chances before the late goal, Ryan Hardie getting one after working well up front.

“But it’s a perfect win. It was a great delivery from Liam and a great header from Armand.

“I thought the whole way through the game that we defended amazingly – right from the front, all the way through the team.

“Tilty went down with a bit of cramp late on and we came under a bit of pressure but we didn’t feel threatened by them.

“We know we can defend properly, and we knew that Armand and Sullay (Kaikai) coming on would give us a bit of a spark when they tired towards the end of the game.

“We know we have the quality in the dressing room for moments like that.

“That could prove to be a massive three points this season.”