Blackpool hoping to strengthen attack after latest draw

Posted Sunday, September 02, 2018 by PA

Caretaker boss Terry McPhillips admitted Blackpool must look to the free agent market for a striker after recording a third away 0-0 draw on the spin at unbeaten Walsall.

McPhillips – who wants the job permanently – rued a lack of cutting edge as Blackpool registered a fourth draw in six League One games.

Curtis Tilt had a first-half header cleared off the line while Mark Cullen blazed over after the break for Blackpool, who had a late Nathan Delfouneso effort ruled out for offside.

Blackpool have the joint-tightest defence in the division, with just three goals conceded, but they have only scored four times.

And McPhillips admitted: “We haven’t quite done enough, not for the want of trying. We just lacked that little bit of quality in the final third.

“Three 0-0 draws away from home are great but only if you are backing them up with home wins and we need to start scoring more.

“It is all about putting the ball in the net if you want to win a game and there’s a couple of free agents on the radar who are hopefully coming in next week.

“That’s six unbeaten but there are not enough wins in that, certainly not in the league. We haven’t got enough points for the performances we have put in, that’s for sure. We need to start winning.

“We are disappointed. The lads are sitting there devastated, gutted – because they know it was a chance to get three points and that would have rounded off a good week for us.”

Undefeated Walsall, by contrast, failed to score for the first time this season, and failed to work Blackpool keeper Mark Howard.

The closest they came was in the first half when Zeli Ismail’s 20-yard free-kick flew just over, but Saddlers boss Dean Keates was happy with a first clean sheet.

Keates said: “We’ve been after a clean sheet the last few weeks and not kept one.

“I think we always looked like we were going to keep a clean sheet but I don’t think we did enough to win a football match if I’m honest and 0-0 is probably a fair result.

“We were a little bit lacklustre, we didn’t really get going and get a tempo to us. When we got into decent areas, the final bit of detail, be it a cross or a pass, just wasn’t there.

“We just weren’t at it today. The commitment was there but when it got to that final ball, it just wasn’t good enough. They are a young squad. We need to learn from it and we will do.

“If you can’t win it, you definitely don’t lose it and I don’t think either team today probably did enough to win a football match.”