Vote for your Blackpool player of the month for October

The Seasiders ended the month sitting in sixth place in the Championship after winning four of their five games. Only league leaders Bournemouth have claimed more points during that time.

October began with a hard-earned 2-1 win against Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers before the 14-day international break.

It looked as though Critchley’s side would be facing an uphill battle for the remainder of the month after suffering injury setbacks with number one keeper and captain Chris Maxwell and top goalscorer Shayne Lavery.

Those concerns only worsened when the Seasiders suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to a rejuvenated Nottingham Forest side at the City Ground.

But the men in tangerine bounced back in style, coming back from two goals down to beat Reading 3-2 away in their next outing.

A history-making 2-0 win against fierce rivals Preston North End followed, before the Seasiders ended the month with a fabulous 1-0 away win against Sheffield United.

Now we’re into November, The Gazette has decided to launch a new feature that will crown Blackpool’s best player of the month.

Blackpool FC writer Matt Scrafton will tot up the player ratings he produces for each game and work out an average for each player, before the overall winner is decided by a public vote.

Only those who have played three games or more are eligible, however.

Only four players will be selected for the vote, which made it incredibly difficult to whittle it down this month, with the likes of Dan Grimshaw, Richard Keogh, Jordan Gabriel, Kenny Dougall, Ryan Wintle and Gary Madine all narrowly missing out.

To vote for your winner, click here.

Here are the four nominees who made it through:

Keshi Anderson

After being told by his boss Neil Critchley that he needed to add numbers to his game, Anderson replied - scoring two in as many games to close out the month. The 26-year-old, who now has three for the season, opened his account in the league with a goal in the derby win against Preston, before scoring a sublime winner at Bramall Lane at the weekend. Aside from his goals, Anderson has been a consistent performer on the left wing this season, getting into dangerous positions in between the lines on a regular basis.

Marvin Ekpiteta

Ekpiteta has arguably been Blackpool’s standout performer this season, so it’s no surprise to see him make this shortlist. The 26-year-old, who was playing in non-league as recently as two years ago, has made a seamless step-up from League One to the Championship, where he looks very much at home. His career is only going one way.

James Husband

Husband had to bide his time earlier in the season when Luke Garbutt was producing consistent displays at left-back, but the 27-year-old has been excellent since coming back into the side. The defender provided the assist for Anderson’s opener in the derby against Preston but he took his game to a whole other level in the win against Sheffield United at the weekend. He was like a man possessed with the number of tackles and interceptions he made.

Jerry Yates

It’s been a welcome return to form for Yates, who finally hit the back of the net from open play at the start of October after failing to do so in his first nine games. The striker took just two minutes to score off the bench against Blackburn Rovers after replacing the injured Shayne Lavery, who had kept him out of the team in the early part of the season. Yates then went on to score in the 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest before bagging a double in the 3-2 win at Reading, making it four goals in three games.

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