A good way to start the New Year – Neil Critchley delighted with Blackpool’s win

Posted Tuesday, January 02, 2024 by PA

Neil Critchley was relieved to see his Blackpool side overcome some early nerves to get back to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Lincoln at Bloomfield Road.

CJ Hamilton wrapped up the points in stoppage time after Oliver Casey’s opener to make it 29 points at home so far this season, the best return in Sky Bet League One.

And after successive losses after Christmas, Critchley was thrilled to see his team grow into the game.

He said: “It’s a nice feeling, a couple of goals and a clean sheet. A good way to start the New Year in positive fashion. It was important after our last two results.

“We were lacking early on in the game in terms of belief and energy, which is understandable on both accounts considering the results we’ve had, but I am proud of the efforts of the players.

“We were keen to rectify our last two defeats, it’s been tough and that showed early on in the game but we have to trust our process.

“We’re good at home. Our record shows that, but what we need to do if we are to be near the top of the league is we’ve got to be better away from home.

“We’ve played some of the bigger teams at the top away from home already, so they have to come to our place.”

Alex Mitchell volleyed the first real chance over for Lincoln, with Casey opening the scoring on the half-hour when he nodded home Karamoko Dembele’s whipped free-kick.

That seemed to fire up Blackpool, who threatened to extend their lead when Owen Dale saw his effort deflected over before James Husband clipped the top of the crossbar with a header.

They continued to press in the second half and eventually Hamilton wrapped up the points, leaving Lincoln head coach Michael Skubala to rue his side’s failure to deal with a set-piece.

He said: “I thought we were in the game, and we were doing well up until they scored the first goal.

“I thought actually we started to take the game to them and they have got one of the best if not the best home record in the league so it was always going to be tough.

“We looked good, but we’ve been done on a set-piece and we need to improve in that area. We need to improve because that changes the game a little bit, well a lot. But we were still creating chances after that so it was disappointing.

“That’s where we are and that’s where we have to improve. We’ve got to be more ruthless in the box when we get there and we have to be more ruthless in our own box so at the minute we’re doing okay but it’s not enough.”