'They don't realise...' - Ian Holloway's honest truth to Blackpool after Nottingham Forest FA Cup defeat

Ian Holloway has told his former club Blackpool that they don’t realise ‘how good they are’ after their 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

The Seasiders were eliminated from the FA Cup despite their comeback against the Premier League side. 

Andrew Omobamidele and Danilo gave Forest a two-goal lead but Albie Morgan and Kyle Joseph scored to take the game to extra-time. Karamoko Dembele had a chance to win the tie in stoppage time but could not convert his opportunity and Chris Wood would later go on to score the winner in the 110th minute. 

The Seasiders now have their League One campaign and EFL Trophy run to think about from now until the end of the season. Holloway - who led the club to promotion had some strong but positive words for his former side. 

“Both sets of players were fantastic,” said Holloway. 

“I think Blackpool need to get some confidence from that. They don’t realise how good they are. 

“It was a wonderful cup night.”

Despite being at less than half of the 17,338 capacity, the atmosphere was praised. A total of 8,098 were in attendance with more than 2,000 being travelling supporters. 

Neil Critchley drew praise from Holloway for one of the changes he made that sparked the comeback. Top scorer Jordan Rhodes was replaced and on came Kyle Josephs, Shayne Lavery meanwhile replaced Sonny Carey and CJ Hamilton came off for Karamoko Dembele, who drew praise from the pundits and opposition supporters.

It was the introduction of Joseph that made the biggest as he showed his strength to bundle a header home from an Andy Lyons cross. 

Holloway added: “The crowd were great, it was a fantastic comeback, let’s be honest about it. 

“The manager deserves a lot of credit. He made the changes up front and they made a difference.”