Michael Appleton's assessment of Blackpool's cruel late defeat to Swansea City

Michael Appleton felt his Blackpool side were hard done by in their cruel late defeat against Swansea City.
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Late heartbreak for Blackpool as Jerry Yates misses penalty in cruel Swansea Cit...

The Seasiders slumped to their second consecutive loss in the league courtesy of Oliver Ntcham’s 87th-minute winner.

After a poor first-half, the home side came on strong in the second period before squandering a great chance to take the lead through Jerry Yates, who saw a penalty saved.

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Nevertheless, Pool were the side attacking in the final stages only to be undone three minutes from time.

It was a tough defeat to take for Appleton, whose side now face back-to-back away games against QPR and Burnley.

“We probably showed them a bit too much respect in the first-half in the sense of not being brave enough or aggressive enough when to go and jump and put the press on,” Appleton said.

“Having said that, I still felt in control of the situation. But when we turned the ball over we weren’t clinical enough, we were a bit messy.

Blackpool boss Michael AppletonBlackpool boss Michael Appleton
Blackpool boss Michael Appleton
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“Even our better players with the ball were a little bit messy in that first-half.

“I made the change at half-time bringing Shayne (Lavery) on just to give us that bit of pace and energy in that frontline.

“I thought the lads were outstanding in the second-half. We should have been 3 or 4-0 up I’d suggest before the killer blow.

“Those type of things can happen with the penalty, some you score and some you miss. To be fair to Jerry, he reacted really well and it didn’t affect his performance after that because he dusted himself down very well.

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“There were a lot of big moments in the game and opportunities you expect the net to bulge and it didn’t quite happen.”

Swansea’s late goal came at a time when Blackpool were the side looking more likely to snatch the win late on.

But the visitors broke at speed from a Blackpool corner, leaving Dom Thompson on his own to fend off two forward players.

Thompson had the opportunity to take down his man, but the Swans were able to maintain their man advantage into the box, where Ntcham had the simple task of slotting home.

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When asked if his side were guilty of a bit of defensive naivety, Appleton said: “Possibly, yes, trying to win the game rather than protecting what you’ve got. We’re a reasonable young group, so that can happen. When things like that do happen, you’ve got to learn from it.

“Having said that, Dom tried to take out the lad on the halfway line so he was actually trying to do the right thing for the sake of the team and get sent off and even didn’t that work, so it was that type of day.

“He recognised he was the last man and he was in a bit of trouble, so even that didn’t really go for us.”