'The game was there to be won': Neil Critchley a little disappointed by Blackpool's draw away to Cardiff City

The Seasiders were almost in cruise control during the first-half, but only held a one-goal lead at the break courtesy of Marvin Ekpiteta’s early header.

The home side inevitably reacted at the start of the second-half, levelling through wing-back Joel Bagan shortly after the interval.

Critchley’s side were denied the chance to retake their lead though when Josh Bowler was bizarrely booked for diving despite being clearly shoved to the ground in the penalty area.

Both sides had chances to win the game late on, but in the end the Seasiders were forced to settle for their third straight draw on the road.

“It’s a tough one because Cardiff have been in good form recently against good opposition, so before the game you’re thinking it will be a tough game away from home because they’ve had a resurgence under Steve Morison,” Critchley said.

“But the way the game went, the game was there to be won. We were comfortable and in control at half-time, we were the better team.

“We knew there would be a reaction from them and we gave away a really poor goal. We didn’t defend the cross well enough, we didn’t mark properly.

“The things we were doing well in the first-half, we stopped doing. We didn’t play with enough intelligence and we didn’t move the ball into areas of the pitch where we knew we could hurt them.

“We scrapped well, we competed well because we needed to. But we didn’t do enough with the ball.

“A point was a fair scoreline, but I’m slightly disappointed we couldn’t turn it into three.”

After Blackpool’s dominant first-half display, Critchley admitted he was disappointed with how his side performed in the second period.

“I told the players at half-time we were too comfortable and it only takes one moment,” he added.

“They had a set-piece, a throw-in and a corner, they’ll score and then we’ll be scratching our heads thinking how it’s happened because they’ve not really threatened our goal or been near the goal in the first-half. We were in control, we were comfortable.

“They showed a reaction in the second-half, which you expected, but we didn’t see that period out. If we see that period out, then the game goes differently but we didn’t.”

Unfortunately the main talking point once again was the referee, who not only failed to award Blackpool a clear penalty but also blew the final whistle 30 seconds before the four minutes of stoppage time were up.

Darren Bond eventually restarted the game to see out the remaining time, only to blow up again shortly afterwards.

But it was his decision to book Bowler that drew the ire of Critchley, who said: “It’s a decision that beggars belief to be honest with you.

“I knew at the time it was a penalty. They knew, their staff knew, the players knew.

“Josh does what he does well, he drives into the box, cuts inside his man and it’s actually Ryan Wintle who comes into the back of him and there’s obvious contact.

“He’s about to shoot, so why would he go down in that situation? Why would he fall over? It’s a ridiculous decision.

“If you go 2-1 up with just over 20 minutes to go, goals change games and they have to come forward and it leaves more space. We might win that 3-1.

“But it finishes 1-1 and that’s fine, okay, we’ll take a point. But it’s a critical decision the referee has got wrong and not only that, he books our player for diving. It’s unbelievable.”

At times during the first-half it looked as though the game would be spoiled as a spectacle by the weather, but fortunately it didn’t play too much of a role in the final result.

“It’s a magnificent stadium and a fantastic pitch and it seemed quite calm, but I promise you when you went out into the middle of the pitch - as I did for the warm-up - it was really blustery,” Pool’s head coach added.

“The wind got up in sporadic moments really high and the ball was holding up, so it wasn’t easy for both sets of players.

“Our supporters obviously had to travel in adverse weather conditions as well so I just want to thank them for being here and I hope they have a safe trip home.”

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