Four-point home haul pleases Blackpool boss Bowyer

Don’t miss the latest football news and gossip from leagues in England, Scotland and Europe with footballwire.co.ukThe Seasiders had not won at Bloomfield Road in over five months but put their 10-game winless home run behind them with a 1-0 victory over Charlton Athletic last Tuesday.

They backed that up with a 1-1 draw against Southend United on Saturday, a game played out in arctic conditions ,with snowy blizzards and high winds.

Clark Robertson drew Blackpool level in first-half stoppage time, drilling home from close range for his third goal of the season, after Marc Antoine Fortune had given the Shrimpers an early lead.

The point keeps Pool 14th in League One and seven points above the relegation zone with nine matches to play.

Manager Bowyer said: “It was a battling point in ridiculous conditions.

“At the beginning of the week, if we had been offered four points out of six from our two home games we would have accepted that straight away. But we were wanting to win both games.

“You saw that at the death – we had a corner which I thought we should have done better from.

“I thought we started the game ever so well, hitting the bar with the Sean Longstaff chance.

“But that just seemed to deflate us a little bit because we hadn’t scored.

“We gave a free-kick away and they scored a scrappy goal.

“ It was a great free-kick that hit the post but we should do better with the rebound. The conditions then kicked in and it was a bit scrappy.

“Once again we had numerous corners but this time it dropped for us and we scored just at the right time, just on half-time.

“I thought second half we were terrific, in the sense their goalie has made some good saves.

“I’m sick of the sight of their goalie to be honest because he saved a last-minute penalty against us at their place and how he pulled off that double save in this game I don’t know.

“But we kept going, put balls in the box and put them under pressure. We just lacked that bit of quality.”

Bowyer felt refereeing decisions went against his side once again, having made the same complaint after their last two games against Blackburn Rovers and Charlton.

Southend forward Simon Cox, who was already on a booking, should have received a second yellow when he went in late on Pool defender Curtis Tilt but referee Andy Haines only gave him a talking-to. He was pulled off at half-time by Southend boss Chris Powell.

Bowyer said: “It’s been well documented this season that we don’t get anything going for us decision-wise, so I’ll keep my money in my pocket.”