Neil Critchley reflects on a frustrating night against Tranmere as he loses his first home game as Blackpool's new head coach

First-half goals from Morgan Ferrier and James Vaughan saw Critchley suffer defeat in his first home game as Pool's new head coach.

The Seasiders threatened a comeback in the second half when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall pulled a goal back, but they were unable to find a second.

Reflecting on the game, Critchley said: “There were plenty of opportunities. We had some good ones in the first half very early on in the game to go 1-0 up.

“They made it very difficult for us. They changed their shape in the first half and the game suited them - they were better at playing that type of game than we were.

“In those difficult moments, we didn’t do well enough.

“We changed the shape at half time and we gave it a right go. The support we had in the second half was unbelievable.

“We’ve done everything but get the equalising goal our second half performance probably merited.

“I’m obviously disappointed with the result and disappointed with the first half.”

The Seasiders had initially made a bright start to the game, but were unable to capitalise on their early spells of pressure.

Tranmere soon took charge of the match, eventually making the breakthrough through the dangerous Morgan Ferrier on 37 minutes.

Critchley added: “Tranmere make it frantic and in those frantic moments you have to compete, which we didn’t do well enough, consistently enough.

“But we also didn’t play the football I want us to play. That was partly due to how they set up.

“They obviously changed their shape to come and stop us and they did it very well in the first half.

“Their second goal was a sickening goal, it was a killer.

“I honestly thought had we come in at 1-0 having not played well, and make a few changes and organise things differently, I think we’d still be in the game.

“We made two really basic errors, technical errors which led to the opportunity to slide the ball to James Vaughan and it was a great finish from him to be fair.

“But it was a critical moment in the game.

“We changed our shape at half time and I thought we had the momentum in the game, whereas they’ve not really come out of their own half.

“I think if Connor Ronan’s shot goes in, which was a fantastic save, then I think we might go on and win the game.”

Pool did eventually pull a goal back on 58 minutes, when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall thundered home from 25 yards with his third goal from his last four games.

Despite enjoying wave after wave of attack, the Seasiders were unable to find that all-important equaliser - the game eventually fizzling out thanks to Tranmere's time wasting.

“It was a terrific strike from Kiernan and that’s what he’s capable of around the box on his left foot," Critchley said.

“I thought his influence in the game grew, as did the team really.

“I was right behind Connor Ronan’s strike (a minute later) and it moved and I thought it just deceived the goalkeeper, so it was a fantastic save from him.

“We had lots of other crosses and set pieces and one or two headers and one or two blocks, we were just hoping one of them would fall for us and we poke it in and get it over the line - but it didn’t quite happen for us unfortunately.”