'He's got the bit between his teeth': Neil Critchley praises Sullay Kaikai's recent displays for Blackpool

The 25-year-old was Blackpool’s match-winner on Tuesday night as his 20th-minute strike handed Critchley’s side a 1-0 win against Rochdale.

Scoring for the third time this season, every time Kaikai has found the back of the net it’s come in a 1-0 win at Bloomfield Road.

The former Crystal Palace man has endured an up and down campaign so far, but Critchley has been pleased with the forward’s recent displays.

“He was a major threat (on Tuesday night), especially in the first-half,” Pool’s head coach said.

“He’s been at it for a couple of games now, he’s got the bit between his teeth and he’s got the quality.

“He understands the defensive side of his game really well, he knows when to press and when not to press and I thought he put in a real shift in for the team. I was delighted for him to get his goal.

“There were some other good deliveries from set pieces and from crosses that we could have maybe made better use of.”

Kaikai combined well with left-back James Husband in the first-half, but Husband was forced to move into the centre of defence later on when Marvin Ekpiteta was forced off with a hamstring injury.

With Luke Garbutt replacing Ekpiteta, that saw Husband move onto the right side of central defence alongside Jordan Thorniley.

On Husband’s display, Critchley added: “Him and Sullay were really at it, particularly first-half. They produced some great moments of quality and they linked up well.

“We also knows Garbs and Sullay can link up well as well.

“Hubby’s versatility and experience is really important and we’ve already seen that in certain games this season.”

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