Steve Bruce's immediate reaction to first dropped points as Blackpool boss after draw with Lincoln City

Following a red card for Adam Jackson in the second half, it seemed as if Kyle Joseph’s goal shortly after would prove to be enough for the Seasiders to pick up three points at Bloomfield Road.

Despite their reduced numbers, the Imps remained resilient, and claimed an equaliser in the final moments through substitute Tom Hamer to end Blackpool’s four-game winning run.

“There’s nothing worse,” Bruce said after the match.

“At the end we had a chance to make it 2-1 again, but it wasn’t to be, that’s football. We have to improve and be a bit more calculated than what we were in the last five minutes, we didn’t see it through well enough at all.

“We made some poor decisions, so it’s something we’ll highlight to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“We know how important it would’ve been to hang, but we didn’t have that little bit of edge towards the end, we needed to be a bit more professional than what we were.

“We’re disappointed, we’ve been made to pay for a lack of concentration. We were edgy in the last four or five minutes, we lost the control we had for 90 minutes. We gave the ball away in bad areas and we’ve paid the price.

“Fair play to them, they’re very good at what they do, but we didn’t do the basics well enough. It’s something to learn from and something we have to get better at.

“I couldn’t fault their effort and endeavour against a difficult opponent who sat in and made it very difficult for us. We had to be patient, but perhaps at times we were a bit too slow and didn’t get the ball forward quick enough. You can see why they’ve gone so well in the league.”

Blackpool were denied a number of times by Lincoln City goalkeeper George Wickens during the first half, with the 22-year-old making three standout saves.

“We had one or two big opportunities which you’ve got to take against a team like Lincoln because it’s difficult to create a lot against them,” Bruce added.

“Their keeper played very very well. You can see why they’ve been a very good team, so I would expect them to be there and thereabouts, like Huddersfield and Charlton.

“We’re still frustrated and disappointed because we could’ve easily gone away with another victory, but we didn’t handle the last five minutes well enough. We’ve got to be big enough to accept that and improve on it.”