Blackpool boss Neil Critchley makes Nottingham Forest claim after defeat | OneFootball

Neil Critchley has claimed his side were unfortunate in their 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Blackpool tasted their first defeat in four and were unfortunate to come away from the game with nothing to show for their efforts.

Forest took the lead through Brennan Johnson but Jerry Yates grabbed the equaliser for Blackpool before Lewis Grabban then continued his fine form under Steve Cooper as he scored what turned out to be the winner in the 61st minute.

But Critchley thought the game was tight, telling the official Blackpool website: “I thought it was a close match and there wasn’t much in the game”

“I thought in the first half we struggled with the rhythm of the game. We didn’t put enough pressure on the ball, and we didn’t deal with the diagonal. Having said that, I think we grew into the half and in the last 15 minutes I thought we could quite easily have equalised going into half-time.”

It wasn’t the best preparation for Critchley’s side either in the build-up to the game as they lost Dujon Sterling and Keshi Anderson to injury.

He revealed both should be back for the Wednesday game: “Dujon’s been ill recently, so he’s missed the last few days of training. Hopefully he’ll be ok after the weekend. Keshi had a family matter and will hopefully be back for Wednesday’s game.”

Blackpool have surprised many and were without key players for this game against Forest. Anderson and Sterling were both missing as was Shayne Lavery who has been in fantastic form.

So to come away feeling disappointed that you should have got something from the game should be seen as a positive.

Blackpool have come a long way in the last few years and this is just another step in the process for the Seasiders.