Preston North End boss Frankie McAvoy 'bitterly disappointed' by derby defeat to Blackpool

Goals in either half from Keshi Anderson and Gary Madine secured a relatively routine victory against a powder-puff Preston side, who barely laid a glove on them.

The Seasiders never really hit top gear, but neither did they need to.

Nevertheless, it’s yet another shot in the arm for Neil Critchley in masterminding Blackpool’s first win against Preston at Bloomfield Road in 24 years.

Amazingly, the win sees Pool move up to 11th and level points with the play-off spots, having won for the sixth time in their last nine games.

It leaves Preston, meanwhile, languishing in 19th place, having won just three of their 14 games this season.

"I'm disappointed with the score. I felt in the first half Blackpool were better in the game," McAvoy said.

"I changed midway through the first half and went 3-4-3, I felt we got better.

"At half-time we had a chat and said we needed to be more aggressive, the same as we were against Coventry City the other night.

"We needed to get the wing-back high up the pitch and make it as difficult as we could for Blackpool.

"In the main we did that. Goals change games and we had a magnificent opportunity for Ben Whiteman to equalise.

"When we didn't get the goal and saw the time ticking away, I felt we had a lot of front players on the bench who we could use to try and burst the game open as best we could.

"We went with four up top but unfortunately we conceded the second goal.

"I didn't think we were carved open many times, there were a few mistakes which happened.

"Over the piece Blackpool have won the game 2-0 and I didn't think there was a great deal in it.

"I haven't seen the stats yet but I didn't think there was a great deal between us in terms of the opportunities and chances. I'm just so disappointed they came out on top.

"When I changed the shape and went 4-4-2, I was disappointed we didn't create enough. We knew we needed to get back into the game.

"I'm bitterly disappointed for the fans who turned up, I know what it means to everybody. As a group we need to do better."

It went from bad to worse for Preston deep into stoppage-time, when Alan Browne was shown a second yellow card and sent off.

"It is easy when you are not in the heat of the battle isn't it," McAvoy added.

"The incident happened in injury time, I hoped Sean (Maguire)would get up and we would carry on as normal.

"Emotions run high sometimes, we were losing the game. Alan got himself involved and the referee decides to send him off.

"After two yellow cards, he needs to serve his punishment like anyone else. We have a lot of players who will want to get an opportunity now."

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