Simon Grayson on referee frustration and why he made double change during Blackpool's draw with Tranmere

Blackpool Simon Grayson admits he has sympathy with the referee despite being frustrated by a number of his decisions in today's 1-1 draw with Tranmere Rovers.
Joe Nuttall was kept on by Simon Grayson despite struggling once againJoe Nuttall was kept on by Simon Grayson despite struggling once again
Joe Nuttall was kept on by Simon Grayson despite struggling once again
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Tom Nield was guilty of making a number of bizarre calls, ignoring numerous fouls while indicating for the most innocuous of free-kicks elsewhere.

He ended up flashing four yellow cards in Blackpool's direction, while Tranmere didn't receive one booking.

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“It’s always going to be very difficult for the referee in terms of what decisions to give and when to book and when not to book," Grayson said.

“I think one or two of our lads got booked when they shouldn’t have done and one or two of theirs maybe didn’t get booked when they should have done.

“There were mistimed tackles because of the ball being stuck in the mud, but when you come to places like this you’ve got to scrap.

“It’s hard enough when you’re playing a team fighting for their lives but when you take into account the pitch it’s becomes even more difficult.

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“The only positive things to come out of a game like this is that we ended up with 11 players still on the pitch at the end of the game.”

With the game finely poised at 1-1 during the second half, after Ben Heneghan and Morgan Ferrier had scored for either side in the opening period, Grayson opted to make a double change with just 20 minutes remaining.

He decided to bring on Sullay Kaikai for top goalscorer Armand Gnanduillet, instead keeping on Joe Nuttall who struggled once again.

Meanwhile Liam Feeney, one of Pool's most creative outlets this season, was replaced by Nathan Delfouneso.

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“It was just to give us something different really," Grayson said, explaining the double change.

“They’ve both played a lot of football over the last few weeks and we wanted to bring some extra pace on with Delf and Sullay in the wide areas.

“We put Joe down the middle because he was still running and looking quite strong and powerful.

“Armand has played a lot of football over the last few weeks and it was horses for courses to change it around a little bit to try and win a match.”