Neil Critchley tells Ollie Turton to be patient in his bid to win back Blackpool's right-back spot from in-form Nottingham Forest loanee

Turton has been Blackpool’s preferred full-back of choice for the majority of the campaign, but he dropped out of contention in January after testing positive for coronavirus.

Since then, Gabriel has come into the side, played six games on the spin and barely put a foot wrong, excelling in the recent wins against Rochdale and Portsmouth in particular.

While that position remains Gabriel’s for the time being, Critchley has been quick to remind Turton that things can often change quickly in football.

“Ollie didn’t do anything wrong,” Pool’s head coach told The Gazette.

“He got Covid unfortunately, so had to miss 10 days. During that time, Jordan came in and performed really well.

“He’s taken his opportunity and his last few performances have been outstanding.

“Ollie just has to be patient, but there’s some really good competition in that position between the two of them.

“I’m lucky I have two really good players who can play there. Ollie has also shown he can play different positions as well.”

Gabriel, on loan from Championship side Nottingham Forest, delivered a magnificent display in Saturday’s victory at Fratton Park.

He wasn’t the only one though, with fellow defenders Dan Ballard and James Husband also combining well as part of a new-look centre-back partnership.

“They were both excellent, as were the whole team. I wouldn’t want to single just those two out,” Critchley added.

“Everyone played their part, it was a real team performance playing against the quality that Portsmouth have got, especially at the front end of the pitch.

“So to keep a clean sheet away from home and nullify their threats was really pleasing.

“The longer the game went on, we were looking more threatening at the other end and thankfully Jerry (Yates) scored a terrific goal for us, a proper goalscorer’s goal, and that’s got us three big points.

“It was a terrific goal, the way he stayed on his feet on the halfway line, ran away and created that half a yard in the penalty box, dropped his shoulder and then fired it across the goalkeeper.

“It was a really top, top quality goal.”

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