Blackpool came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Lincoln City.

Ian Evatt was pleased with the fight and spirit Blackpool demonstrated as they came from behind to draw 2-2 with Lincoln City at Bloomfield Road.

Jack Moylan and Rob Street helped the visitors race to a two-goal lead inside the opening 18 minutes, but they were unable to hold onto their advantage.

The Seasiders pulled their first goal back through a Lee Evans penalty just after the half mark, before Fletcher levelled the scores heading into the closing stages.

In comparison to his side’s reaction to falling behind in their 3-0 defeat to Reading a fortnight ago, Evatt was delighted to see some fight from the team in Tangerine.

“They basically showed me, showed the staff, and showed the supporters that they can be resilient and they can come back from being behind,” he said.

“I’m proud of them for that, and I’ve told them that. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb because of two moments of switching off - that can punish you, it’s the small details in games.

“What we did from then was control the game, and we carried on believing that we could back into it with our processes. The players deserved at least a point.

“For the most part it was a positive afternoon. I was disappointed by the manner we conceded the two goals. The first goal in every game is crucial but especially against Lincoln because of the type of team they are. We just didn’t switch on well enough.

“They slow the game down, they play the clock really well, and there’s loads of men behind the ball, so you have to probe and find your way up the pitch. You can see how physical they are - they are built for direct balls from us.

“It then becomes frustrating because it takes time to work your way up the pitch, and we gave them that opportunity.

“To make matters worse, when we had control again and had recovered, we didn’t lock the game out properly. When we’re in the final third, we have to make sure the game behind us is locked down and make sure we’re tight, so if we do turn the ball over, they don’t transition and counter quickly.

“We should stop that at source, but we’re unfortunate with the way the ball goes in with the deflection.

“We then have a mountain to climb and everyone’s asking questions of all of us. The thing we spoke about post Reading was, when we do go behind it’s about reacting in the right way and showing that we have courage and the belief to come back - today we’ve done that.

“They’re a team that are third in the league and we’ve dominated the game for large parts, so there’s progression.

“It’s been a good week, if we’d won today then it would’ve been a great week. Now we have to recover and go again.

“I’ll always speak honestly to our supporters, I said to our players: ‘I don’t see any courage and I don’t see any resilience, I don’t think we’ve got enough people ready to stand up to be counted.’

“Today they’ve proved me wrong and they’ve proved the supporters wrong. I’m the first one to admit it, and I’ve told them that I’m proud of the way they’ve reacted today.

“That shows they can do it, and they can be resilient. That was a much better response, and I’m proud we had full control of it. We’ll dust ourselves down, if you can’t win; you don’t lose.”

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