Neil Critchley bemoans Blackpool's lack of quality in the final third during frustrating defeat to Bristol Rovers

The Seasiders began the New Year in disappointing fashion, going down to a 2-1 defeat in their opening fixture of 2021.

It ought to have been so different, Critchley’s side failing to build on the good start Gary Madine gave them after just eight minutes.

Despite controlling the first-half, Blackpool wasted a host of promising situations before firing themselves on the wrong end of a quickfire double to somehow find themselves 2-1 down at the break.

Loanee goalkeeper Sam Walker saved his second penalty of the week in the second half to set up an exciting finish, but the men in tangerine were unable to find the back of the net in a hugely frustrating end to the game.

“It’s a game we should never have lost,” Critchley said.

“We got off to the perfect start. It was something we had spoken about, something we had practiced in training on Friday, the first goal. It’s something we had highlighted and an aspect of our game we could have done better during the Shrewsbury game.

“Even after that, we had some really promising situations, some real good bits of play, got in and around the final third and the penalty box often and then a mistake has cost us the first goal and a goal out of nothing has cost us the second goal.

“We didn’t defend the cross well enough, we didn’t get close enough but it was an excellent finish from the boy to be fair.

“But you’re 2-1 down and you’re thinking ‘they’ve not really been in our half or been near our goal’.

“If we kept doing what we were doing and carried on playing like we were playing, then it’ll come down to what we do in the final third of the pitch.

“All of our play up until the penalty area was excellent but unfortunately that’s what has decided the game. It wasn’t a lack of effort, we did everything to try and get the equaliser but our quality in the final third - which was the same on Tuesday night - has cost us the game today.”

When asked why his side are lacking quality in the final third, Critchley said: “It’s a variety of many different things. We’ve tried different personnel, you can see that, so it doesn’t matter who we have on the pitch.

“Our final delivery, our quality of cross, our quality of shot, our final pass into the box, most of the time was found wanting. When we did put a good cross in, our finish let us down. It was just a combination of all those things.

“Up until the penalty area, we were by far the better team and the most dominant team, but what happens between both boxes decides the game and we haven’t done well enough in front of goal to get anything out of the game.”

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