'That was to protect him': Why Kevin Stewart was taken off during Blackpool's heavy defeat to Nottingham Forest

The 28-year-old was the first Blackpool player to be withdrawn on Saturday during the heavy 4-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

The midfielder left the field on the hour-mark and was replaced by Callum Connolly.

Five minutes before being subbed, Stewart had been booked for a cynical foul on Forest’s dangerman Brennan Johnson, who scored two of his side’s four goals.

It came after Stewart was fairly fortunate to avoid a yellow card in the first-half for scything down an opponent.

Speaking after the game, Critchley revealed he wanted to avoid Stewart picking up a suspension ahead of the Lancashire derby against Preston North End on Tuesday.

“Kev being Kev, he likes to get around the pitch and press and he followed it up with two consecutive fouls quite quickly,” Critchley told The Gazette.

“I was thinking if another one comes, which can happen with Kev, I don’t want him to be suspended and miss anymore games so that was just to protect him.”

The Seasiders suffered their joint-heaviest defeats of the campaign yesterday against their promotion-chasing opponents.

Despite the scoreline, Critchley insists his still played fairly well.

“I was pleased with lots of aspects of the performance, but we still got beat 4-1 so we’re not patting each other on the back,” he added.

“It’s a difficult one to assess because you look at the scoreline and think we were well beaten and think we were second best in the game, but we weren’t - only in moments.

“The first goal is a massive deflection, even the second one deflects off someone and falls straight into Johnson’s path and it’s a great strike, but that little deflection puts it into his path.

“Those little moments didn’t go for us today. How many times were we in their penalty area and getting crosses into the box?

“Hubby gets to the byline and cuts it back and it falls between two players, that’s the fine line in this division. If it falls for us and we score then it’s game on again.

“Those little things just didn’t go for us.”