Neil Critchley: Blackpool's humbling defeat to Huddersfield Town a reminder of how unforgiving the Championship can be

The Seasiders played fairly well on Tuesday night, but were given a harsh lesson in finishing as they were made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal in ruthless fashion.

Critchley’s side, who have only scored at home in the league once this season, now find themselves back in the bottom three in the Championship.

“Every game is a learning curve and a chance to get better,” Pool’s head coach said.

“Huddersfield are a good team, a really good team. They play really good football, they have good attacking players and they have good players in wide positions, their midfield players are good.

“They had control of the game but control of the game at the back. They didn’t have a lot of control of the game around our final third.

“We won the ball back quite a few times and that’s how we had our chance to break before the first goal, but we just didn’t make the most of it.

“It’s always a chance to learn and improve, but you have to do that very quickly in this division because if you don’t, you lose games.”

The Seasiders, who make the trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday, are still acclimatising to the second tier and getting used to the step-up in quality.

If results are going to come their way on a regular basis, they’re going to have to do better in front of goal having only scored five in their opening seven games.

“The margins are so fine, it’s so competitive every game. You have to be at it every game,” Critchley added.

“The mentality has to be right, your focus, your organisation, how you try to play, the detail at set-pieces, everything has to be spot on.

“If it’s not, then you get beat.

“The details weren’t quite right for us in those moments, but in the first-half Shayne Lavery’s had a header that just goes wide, he has another header which just goes over. If one of them goes in, the game changes.

“It’s a tough one, because the feeling is a horrible feeling. It’s even worse when you lose 3-0 and you think ‘hmm, I’m not sure there was too much between the two teams there’.”

​Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here