Neil Critchley says Keshi Anderson and Jerry Yates shouldn't get sidetracked by reunion with former club Swindon Town

Neil Critchley says Blackpool duo Keshi Anderson and Jerry Yates need to concentrate on their own games and not get caught up in the emotion of playing against their former club.
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Blackpool boss Neil Critchley: We won't be changing our approach just because of...

The pair played a leading role for Saturday’s opponents Swindon Town last season as they helped Richie Wellens’ side lift the League Two title.

Yates, who spent the season on loan with the Robins, has since joined Blackpool from Rotherham United while Anderson made the move from the County Ground on a free transfer.

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The attacking pair will know all about how Swindon operate but Critchley is adamant he won’t need their insight.

“We do that ourselves, there’s enough technology to watch games,” Pool’s head coach said.

“We do our homework on the opposition, we’ve done it on Swindon so we’ll have our gameplan.

“I just want the boys to just concentrate on their performance on Saturday and not worry about all the other things that go on around the game. Just concentrate on what they’ve been doing.

Jerry Yates will take on his former club Swindon Town on SaturdayJerry Yates will take on his former club Swindon Town on Saturday
Jerry Yates will take on his former club Swindon Town on Saturday

“I’ve been delighted with both of them so far.”

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Blackpool take on a recently-promoted side for the second week running have been beaten 1-0 by Plymouth Argyle in their opening fixture last Saturday.

Critchley is expecting another tough task, with Swindon opening their account with an impressive 3-1 win against Rochdale.

“Similar to Plymouth last week, it’s a promoted team that has a clear way of playing. They were very successful last season,” Critchley said.

“They play football, they get the ball down and they’re very good at it. They have some good, attacking players.

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“They had a good result last week so they’re full of confidence, so they will be dangerous to play against.

“It will be a really difficult game for us on Saturday.”

As for Blackpool, they have a clean bill of health aside from James Husband, who is being given more time to prove his fitness after missing last week’s trip to Devon with a hamstring injury.

“We’re still waiting on James Husband,” Critchley added.

“He’s back on the grass running and doing ball work, so we’ve still got 48 hours between now and Saturday, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed for him.

“Other than that, it’s the same as last week.”