Blackpool manager Ian Evatt has criticised his team's naivety after a narrow 3-2 victory over Aston Villa's Under-21s on Tuesday night. The win in the Jersey Mike's Trophy came despite a late defensive lapse that allowed the visitors a consolation goal in the 94th minute.
Evatt gave his post-match thoughts after the game at Bloomfield Road. "This is a naive group, it is, and we're working with them to try and give them some nous, some game intelligence," the head coach said. He pointed to the late goal, scored when his side led 3-1, as a prime example of poor decision-making.
Blackpool had trailed to a Fletcher Boyd strike in the 29th minute before Zac Ashworth equalised three minutes before half-time. Second-half goals from Jerry Yates, a penalty, and Jordan Brown put the Seasiders in control, only for Markie Meade to pull one back for Villa in added time. Evatt expressed frustration at his team's inability to kill the game, stating they had enough chances to win by a more comfortable margin.
The victory lifts Blackpool to second in their Trophy group standings, but the performance raised significant concerns. Evatt cited missed chances and a lack of game intelligence as persistent issues that are also affecting their league campaign. His comments come with the team sitting 20th in League One, just one point above the relegation zone after 11 games. Their record of three wins and two draws from those 11 matches has yielded only 11 points, leaving them 14 points adrift of leaders Huddersfield. Their recent league form of two wins and three losses from the last five games includes a 1-4 home defeat to Mansfield Town on Saturday 24 October, where Dion Charles scored their sole goal.
Key defenders Fraser Horsfall and CJ Hamilton, along with midfielder George Honeyman, were again unavailable through injury, weakening the side's structure. The manager confirmed the trio remain on the current injury list. Blackpool's recent league form shows two wins and three losses from their last five matches, a run that includes a heavy 4-1 defeat to Mansfield Town last week. That loss was part of a sequence of recent results that also saw a 2-0 win over Milton Keynes Dons on Tuesday 20 October, preceded by 2-0 and 1-0 defeats to Leyton Orient and Cambridge United respectively.
Attention now turns to a vital league fixture away at Sheffield Wednesday this Sunday. The Owls are currently ninth in the table, presenting a tough test for Evatt's squad. The manager will be demanding a sharper, more intelligent display at Hillsborough as Blackpool look to climb away from danger. He acknowledged the team's current position is not good enough and stressed the need for immediate improvement.
The team has scored 16 goals but conceded 20 in the league this season, giving them a goal difference of minus four. Their next match is against Sheffield Wednesday on November 1st.
More detail at thestar.co.uk
