Blackpool strikers like new signings for Bowyer

Pool had a quiet transfer deadline day, with goalkeeper Dean Lyness the one signing and midfielder John Herron’s five-month loan move to Scottish club Dunfermline confirmed around 1am.

But the Pool boss had already swooped for three strikers this summer – Matt, Vassell and Armand Gnanduillet – having recalled the words of Brian Clough that the hardest job in the world is scoring goals.

Bowyer signed for Clough’s Nottingham Forest as an 18-year-old and the Pool boss hopes he will soon have the wide range of striking options his legendary mentor would have approved of.

Vassell showed his return to full fitness by firing Pool to a 2-1 Checkatrade Trophy victory over Cheltenham on Tuesday, while Philliskirk and Matt are expected to step up their comeback regimes next week – neither having played since the opening days of the season.

Bowyer said: “The pair of them have had a good week. We are happy with that and we are looking forward to them stepping up at the beginning of next week.

“Having Kyle Vassell return and with those two as well, it is like having new signings. They have hardly featured at all, so getting them back into the squad will be a massive boost for us.

“You have seen in our opening five games in League Two that the performance level from box to box has been decent, but Brian Clough told me the hardest job in the world is putting the ball in the back of the net. The more people we can have doing that the better. That’s why I brought the strikers in.”

Bowyer did hope to bring in a few more new faces on the day Lyness became his 12th signing of a productive summer.

And after a jam-packed eight-game August, the Pool boss is looking forward to getting back on the training pitch between this month’s five games, which begin at Yeovil tomorrow.

He said: “I probably would like just a couple more players but that was not to be.

“We will work with what we have got now. I’m happy in terms of the performance levels that they have shown so far, and now we have got the craziness of eight games in one month out of the way we can start working on the training field with them.”

Bowyer has not ruled out bolstering his squad before January by signing out-of-contract players.

He said: “That is an option, so we are probably looking at that and seeing who hasn’t been snapped up. I think you have to do your job properly and cover all bases.”