Neil Critchley explains Gary Madine's surprise absence and the reason behind Oliver Sarkic's withdrawal in Blackpool's EFL Trophy draw against Accrington

Neil Critchley says a slight back issue was the reason behind Gary Madine’s surprise absence from Blackpool’s squad last night.

With the striker having barely featured so far this season, many Blackpool fans had expected to see the 30-year-old lead the line for the EFL Trophy encounter against Accrington Stanley.

Madine has only started one game this term, Pool’s EFL Trophy group stage opener against Barrow, only seeing 24 minutes of action in the league in two substitute appearances.

Indeed, the forward was left on the bench for the entirety of Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Lincoln City, Critchley instead opting to bring on Oliver Sarkic to bolster the forward line in the latter stages.

The former Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield United and Cardiff City man was left out of Blackpool’s squad altogether at the Crown Ground last night, with Sarkic again leading the line while number nine Jerry Yates was on the bench.

When asked if Pool fans should read anything into Madine’s absence, Critchley told The Gazette: “He just felt his back in training on Monday, so he would have been involved.

“I’m pretty sure he will train on Thursday.”

Sarkic lasted just 45 minutes, the forward being withdrawn at the interval after suffering a heavy knock towards the end of the opening period.

The 23-year-old was much improved from Saturday’s brief cameo, where he struggled to make the ball stick in the final third.

Explaining why Sarkic was brought off, Critchley said: “He just had a run-in towards the corner at the back end of the first half where he felt something in his hamstring, so we took no risk and decided to take him straight off.

“I actually thought he had a really good first 45 minutes as well.”