Bowyer won’t take it easy on Blackpool players as season draws to close

Posted Wednesday, April 11, 2018 by PA

Blackpool’s players have been told they will get no let-up from manager Gary Bowyer as he looks to end the season on a high after a 3-0 win over Northampton.

Armand Gnanduillet opened the scoring three minutes before half-time and goals from Sean Longstaff and Jimmy Ryan ensured the points would be staying at Bloomfield Road.

Bowyer was delighted with his side’s effort, but was adamant that the hard work will continue right until the final day of the season.

He said: “Tonight’s performance was brilliant. It was a real challenge because it was a different game.

“You saw they were blocking everything and throwing their bodies in front of everything. You thought it might be one of those nights.

“The timing of the goal was good. I thought Armand was a real handful tonight with his size, and I’m delighted for him.

“We spoke at half-time about keeping on the front foot and we kept going and had a really strong second half.

“The second goal was a wonderful strike, but we scored a scruffy goal as well, which we’ve not scored all season, so for me that was the most pleasing.

“The players deserve an enormous amount of credit because we didn’t get enough credit for how we performed on Saturday and tonight, we were outstanding again.

“We’ve got 12 points to play for, I’m not letting off these players. They know that, and they’ve been told that tonight.”

Longstaff’s 25-yard strike was the pick of the goals and Viv Solomon-Otabor was particularly impressive as Blackpool dominated the second half after a fairly even first.

Gnanduillet’s side-footed finish seemed to settle the nerves and the Seasiders let loose from then on, hitting the post twice before Ryan’s deflected free-kick sealed the win.

The result left the Cobblers mired in relegation trouble, four points from safety, with just four games to play.

Northampton manager Dean Austin said: “I was relatively pleased with the effort. I’m not going to fault the boys; they gave everything.

“Unfortunately, when things aren’t going well for you, the team can become a bit fragile when you lose a goal.

“We were well in the game and we had our moments, and then the goal just before half-time was a blow.

“In terms of creating chances, we didn’t do too badly in the first half, but where we needed that little bit of extra care and composure in the final third, at times it wasn’t there.

“You always have to believe. The task is large. But we have four very winnable games.

“We’ve got to keep going and change the momentum. We’ve got to dust ourselves down and come out fighting again on Saturday.”