Grayson praises Delfouneso after forward nets twice in win at Southend

Posted Sunday, August 11, 2019 by PA

Blackpool boss Simon Grayson heaped praise on Nathan Delfouneso after the striker bagged a brace in a 3-1 win at Southend.

The Seasiders were 3-0 ahead inside the opening 37 minutes at Roots Hall as they made it back-to-back wins at the start of the season.

And Grayson was pleased with Delfouneso’s role in the victory which saw his team go to the top of the League One table.

“I’ve been very impressed by Nathan,” said Grayson. “He looks so positive and works hard for the team.

“Maybe he has not shown the potential he had when at Villa as a youngster but he is now playing with freedom and has the belief all top players need.

“He got himself a couple of goals and I thought we dominated the first half.

“We could have made it more comfortable if we had scored a fourth because you never know what can happen in football.

“We did have chances but we have to be happy with a 3-1 win.”

Blackpool went in front after just nine minutes when Shrimpers goalkeeper Mark Oxley’s attempted punched clearance struck team-mate Harry Lennon and deflected into the back of the net.

Three minutes later, Blackpool doubled their lead when Nathan Delfouneso raced onto Sullay Kaikai’s through ball before beating the advancing Oxley with a neat finish.

Oxley then did well to deny Armand Gnanduillet from close range before the visitors made it 3-0 in the 37th minute with Delfouneso netting from close range after Jordan Thompson’s corner.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men on the hour mark with James Husband dismissed for a poor challenge on Elvis Bwomono, before Simon Cox headed in a 75th-minute consolation.

It is the Shrimpers’ softness at the back which continues to concern manager Kevin Bond after two straight defeats to start the season.

“My feeling is that you’re never going to win a game if you concede goals on a regular basis,” said Bond.

“The facts are, I’ve seen, we haven’t kept a clean sheet since January. Until we address that we can’t be the team we want to be.

“The goals we concede will kill us and they killed us today. They were our mistakes for all of the goals. It wasn’t what they created it was what we offered up to them.

“It’s not down to systems or anything like that because how could you put that first goal we conceded down to a system.

“The goals we conceded shouldn’t have happened.”