Neil Critchley says his Blackpool side needed to show more belief in EFL Trophy draw against Accrington Stanley

Neil Critchley says his Blackpool side needed to show more belief in their EFL Trophy group stage draw against Accrington Stanley.

The Seasiders made it two draws from two group games at the Crown Ground tonight, Accrington’s Colby Bishop pegging them back late on after Keshi Anderson’s clever early opener.

Stanley picked up an extra bonus point after winning a penalty shootout 4-3, leaving them on top of Group G on five points with Blackpool and Barrow level on three ahead of their final group game against Leeds United’s Under-21s.

Reacting to the result, Critchley had mixed feelings - pointing out the positives but also looking at the things his side can still improve on.

“I thought we battled very well, we showed good spirit. We could have played better football in periods of the game,” Pool’s head coach said.

“I thought we started the game very well in the first 20 minutes and deservedly took the lead. But we stopped doing the things that had given us that momentum in the game.

“Despite that, I have to say our goal was under no threat at all during the first half - we defended well and kept them away from the goal.

“Second half, we could have shown more belief in what we were trying to do in possession. When we actually started to do that, we got on top towards the end.

“I felt as though if there was going to be a team that was going to win at the end, it was going to be us.

“We just need to show a little bit more courage and belief in what we’re trying to become.”

Critchley added: “Early on, we had a good attitude to the game, pressing well, winning the ball and causing them a few problems.

“We deservedly scored at that moment in time but we couldn’t quite carry it on.

“But this is a difficult place to come to, they have a certain way of playing and it’s not easy. You have to stand up to quite a lot of long balls and second balls and you have to compete against it.

“We dealt with it well, but we didn’t deal do it as well as we could have done at the start of the second half.

“We found a way to come back into the game and towards the end of the game, had we showed better quality, made better choices and had more belief in each other, I think we would have turned those dangerous moments and good passages of play into meaningful chances.”