Game should not have been played, says Seasiders boss Evatt

The journey down to South London on Friday saw a severe sickness bug sweep through both players and staff. Five players were missing from the starting XI, including Finley Monroe, Josh Bowler and Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who were all bedridden.

Evatt stressed that with players and staff suffering diarrhoea and vomiting, it was wrong to play the game. He said: “We contacted the EFL, all we’ve done is followed our protocol – we’ve separated players and staff.

“I’m not privy to the conversations we’ve had with the EFL, but all I can say is that what we’ve reported is completely accurate.

“We wanted to play this game, we travelled down here and we were motivated to play this fixture.

“We were already behind in fixtures, but the condition of the players and their welfare must always come first – which is what happens in every industry except football, it seems.

“We’ve had 15 staff come down with the illness. Some players haven’t been able to make it out of bed, some staff have had to continue to do their jobs.

“It’s been horrific – I’ve never seen a virus spread so fast, and aggressive. But this isn’t me trying to make excuses, by the way.”

It was to their credit that Blackpool showed a lot of energy down in South London, putting the Wimbledon back line under pressure.

Despite coming away with no points, the performance – especially in trying circumstances – gave Evatt hope.

He added “I don’t think there’s any person in that stadium who can say we deserved to lose the game.

“We’ve dominated it for large spells, their goalkeeper has got man-of-the-match.

“I think Wimbledon had one real attack first half – and the lad has rocketed one in from twenty-five yards.

“Second half, it was defence against attack. We had chances to get back in it, but we missed too many good opportunities.”