A welcome chance to '˜clear the air' at Pool

Blackpool's free week has given the club's players and staff the chance to 'clear the air' ahead of today's crunch trip to Exeter City.
Bowyer is looking for a reactionBowyer is looking for a reaction
Bowyer is looking for a reaction

That’s according to manager Gary Bowyer, whose squad have had a full week to prepare for the long journey to Devon.

Pool had Tuesday matches in the previous two weeks and will in each of the next three, but this free week has enabled the players to prepare in training thoroughly after the disappointment of squandering a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at home to relegation-threatened Crewe Alexandra last weekend.

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Bowyer said: “The group we’ve got is an honest group and the staff are honest, and we pulled no punches after the game.

“Even when we were winning 2-0, we weren’t playing at the levels we set ourselves.

“It’s been a good week to clear the air and go again because – as daft as it is – we moved a point closer to the play-offs, so it’s not all doom and gloom.

“But we certainly can’t play like that from now until the end of the season.

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“The teams that are successful show they have resilience, even when they’re not playing particularly well.

“It was an opportunity missed in one sense, but how many times have we seen a team go 2-0 up, get clawed back to 2-2 and then lose it in the last couple of minutes?

“So while it was a missed opportunity, we did get a point closer to the play-offs.”

The games come thick and fast for the Seasiders in March, with six more League Two fixtures on the back of a seven-game February.

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Bowyer added: “The time off has been needed as it’s been a hectic couple of weeks for us but we’ve got to get ready to go again.

“It’s simple – there is a third of the season left and we have 15 games to do the best we possibly can.

“One of the things we’ve managed to do this year is not to have back-to-back defeats.

“We’ve not had enough back-to-back victories but we’ve always made sure there’s been a response, and that’s exactly what we’re looking forward to this weekend because of the manner of the performance against Crewe.”

Kyle Vassell is the only fitness doubt ahead of today’s game at St James Park, having been brought off injured after 65 minutes at Bloomfield Road last Saturday.

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