'Didn't show enough' - Steve Bruce honest in criticism of Blackpool in defeat to Exeter City
Blackpool were defeated by Exeter City at St James Park.
Steve Bruce states Blackpool let themselves down in every department in their 4-1 defeat to Exeter City at St James Park.
On the back of a loss to Stevenage at Bloomfield Road last week, the Seasiders quickly found themselves behind in Devon, with Reece Cole and Jack Fitzwater both finding the back of the net in the opening exchanges.
Ashley Fletcher pulled one back for the visitors just after the 20-minute mark, before the Grecians’ advantage was strengthened by Jayden Wareham and substitute Sonny Cox after the break.
Reflecting on the game, Bruce said: “We didn’t play from the first whistle, it was very frustrating - arguably as poor as I’ve seen us play since I’ve been at the club. We didn’t show enough determination in what we did, either defensively or going forward, and that’s a frustration for me.
“We’ve performed poorly. We’ve let ourselves down. I’ll reiterate, I can only apologise to the supporters who came here in their hundreds to support their team. It’s taken them hours to get here, and they haven’t seen their team perform. We’ll make sure we’re better next time.
“It’s very early, and I’m sure we’ll get better as the season goes on. It’s very difficult to integrate - and I’m not making excuses. It does take time, but I still expect us to be better than that. I’m not one for excuses, we were poor on the day and we didn’t do anything well enough to get anywhere near a victory.
“Congratulations to Exeter, we have to take it on the chin and admit we were nowhere near good enough.
“It was certainly tough. The supporters deserve more than that, we haven’t performed well enough in every department.
“Anything you throw at me, I’ll agree with - slow start, sloppy, didn’t take part, and not good enough with or without the ball. There was no real urgency about us, we could go on and on.
“We’ve prided ourselves away from home for showing a bit of resilience, but today we haven’t done the basics well enough.”
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