Simon Grayson responds to critics of Blackpool's performance at Bolton

The Seasiders laboured to a dull goalless draw at the University of Bolton Stadium in a game played in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Despite the poor performance, Grayson's men climbed up to fourth in the League One table while extending their unbeaten run to four games in the process.

But many supporters were critical of Pool's display against a Bolton side who sit bottom of the division having scored just two goals all season.

Yet Grayson believes those critics fail to take into account the improvements the Trotters have made in recent weeks.

“People who thought Monday night was going to be an easy game for us were living in a dreamland," the Pool boss said.

“They can’t have been living in the real world over the last few weeks because they should have looked at Bolton’s results.

“I stressed before it was going to be a really tough game for us because they drew with Oxford, drew with Sunderland and should have beaten Portsmouth.

“They’ve got a starting 11 that is capable of doing very well in this division.

“Just because they’re bottom of the division is not a reflection of where they are now as a football club.

“We would have loved to have played them six or eight weeks ago because you’d like to think we would have won the game with the personnel they had out.

“But from now on Bolton are going to be a really tough nut to crack for a lot of teams in League One.

“We tried to win the game but we just didn’t have enough quality when we needed it. So the next best thing is a point away from home which took us up to fourth in the division, which isn’t bad.”