'Arguably our best' - Blackpool boss offers honest verdict on Bristol Rovers victory that betters win at Portsmouth's Fratton Park

Neil Critchley believes Blackpool’s 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium was their best win from the season so far - as they claimed a rare three points on the road. 

The Seasiders raced to a two-goal lead inside the opening 20 minutes through impressive finishes from CJ Hamilton and Karamoko Dembele, before Chris Martin pulled one back for the home side.

Hard work was required in the second half to get Blackpool over the line and for Critchley's men to celebrate just their third win away from Bloomfield Road in League One this season. 

One of the Seasiders' other wins on the road was that impressive 4-0 victory at leaders Portsmouth back in November. That raised a few eyebrows and prompted a few admiring glances from afar. However, as fans make the journey back to the north west, Critchley assured them today's win was the result of his side's best performance of the season.

'Bristol Rovers have really good players - they’ve beat some good teams at home so this is a really good victory for us,' stated Critchley. 

“Sometimes people don’t understand how difficult it is to actually win a game of football, it’s so hard and so many things can happen. You need luck and moments to go in your favour. Every game is competitive, we had to fight for everything we got today. 

'We’ve had to win in a different way. Certain aspects of our game have been questioned away from home and I think that answers some of them today. It wasn’t a pretty game of football but I thought we battled and competed because we had to. We made a good start before conceding a poor goal - it was criminal and gave them a lift, but in the second half they had momentum but didn’t really have an opportunity to score. 

'After the schedule we’ve been on and the 120 minutes we played against Forest, I’d say this is arguably our best win of the season.'

Bristol Rovers had calls for a penalty waved away by the referee in the latter stages of the game, as they looked for an equaliser. 

'It was outside of the box, but he fell into it,' added Critchley.

'It could’ve been given but we could’ve had one against Nottingham Forest the other night- these things happen. How long have you got? I’ve got a list of penalties we should’ve had this season.  It was outside of the box, so it’s not a penalty any way, it's a free kick.'