McPhillips felt Blackpool deserved more against Doncaster

Posted Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by PA

Blackpool manager Terry McPhillips felt his side deserved more than a solitary point after seeing fellow play-off hopefuls Doncaster scramble a draw.

Michael Nottingham’s goal four minutes after the break handed the Tangerines the advantage, but Donny skipper Tommy Rowe dragged his side level with a sublime strike at Bloomfield Road.

And McPhillips felt his side has dominated the game, created more chances and had deserved the three points against their rivals.

“I thought it was a bit harsh on us,” he said. “I thought we should have won.

“We’ve had the better chances and I thought we controlled most of the game, but they’re a good side and we just haven’t been clinical enough.

“The amount of shots we’ve had, we’ve not had enough on target. We haven’t had enough that looked like they were going to go in the net.

“I thought the crowd were magnificent again and relentless and they’re a big help.

“But I think the lads have put a shift in again for them and give back just that. We need to be winning those games to make it exciting.

“The main thing is we didn’t lose it, but I thought it was a game we should have won and we’re disappointed.”

The Tangerines could have gone ahead 10 minutes before the break after Liam Feeney’s exploits on the wing teed up a free Armand Gnanduillet who curled inches over.

Gnanduillet rose highest in stoppage time to meet Thompson’s corner but wasted the opportunity.

The Tangerines took the lead not long after the restart when substitute Nottingham stabbed home on the rebound after Jay Spearing’s corner was nodded onto the bar.

However, Rowe levelled for the Yorkshire side with a 73rd minute thunderbolt from the edge of the box, while Antony Evans drove at goal late on for the Seasiders and dragged a low effort wide.

Doncaster boss Grant McCann said: “I thought we were very good, first half. I thought the energy and the tempo that we played at was good.

“To be honest with you, I’m probably doing the boys a disservice really. I thought that the energy and the verve was back.

“The way we pressed and the energy we had and if we can continue that, we can probably look back at this result at the end of the season and say, ‘you know what, that’s a good point at Blackpool’.

“It’s not an easy place to come. I’m not going to make any excuses about pitches or wind or anything like that, it was the same for both teams.

“It’s never easy to come to Blackpool at any stage of the season and I thought it was probably the least we deserved. I think the boys showed the appetite to respond from defeat at Wimbledon and I thought we did it in abundance tonight.

“I thought they all put a big shift in. You’ve seen the changes that we made, positive changes to try and get something out of the game.”