BLOW FOR IRON ACE JARVIS...

SCUNTHORPE striker Aaron Jarvis may not play again this season after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring problem.

The 23-year-old, who has scored twice for the Iron this term, has not featured for the club this year after initially suffering the issue in the win at Walsall at the end of December.

Manager Neil Cox said: “Jarvo has felt his hamstring again, which is bad news because he was just coming to the end of a 10-week period, maybe longer.

“It looks like that could be him for the season. That’s disappointing.”

NEIL Critchley blasted his Blackpool side’s decisionmaking after seeing an opportunity to claim derby bragging rights slip through their fingers.

CJ Hamilton hit a post in the second half with the game’s best chance.

But Fleetwood are no pushovers, with a third clean sheet in succession leaving the Tangerines dreaming about what could have been.

And Critchley failed to hide his disappointment.

“It’s a point but my overriding feeling is that it should have been three,” said head coach Critchley.

“With the amount of shots and opportunities in and around the final third, I am disappointed we didn’t win the game.

“We were in the team in the ascendancy pushing forward, trying to get that goal. Unfortunately, our quality and decision-making in and around the goal has not won us the game.

“I thought it would be a hard-fought game but if any team should have won that game, it was us.”

Fleetwood, now undefeated in five games, have never won at Bloomfield Road, but Ged Garner’s 25-yard drive at the start of the second half forced

Chris Maxwell into a save.

Then Hamilton hit a post from six yards with only goalkeeper Alex Cairns to beat.

Sam Finley’s excellent pass provided Kyle Vassell with a chance after 68 minutes, but Fleetwood’s midweek match-winner missed the target.

The Cod Army have now kept three successive clean sheets with skipper Callum Connolly and James Hill leading this latest defensive shutout with superb blocks to deny Jerry Yates.

Blackpool finished on top, but Demetri Mitchell headed over.

Fleetwood boss Simon Grayson was happy with a point.

“If you don’t win the game, the next best thing is a draw,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game so you have to make sure you are competitive and win tackles.

“Did we do that? Yes, I think we did. Did we play as well as we can when we had possession of the ball? Probably not really. We were a bit slack and gave it away too cheaply.

“But if you don’t win, you battle and scrap to make sure you don’t lose it. Neither team created loads of chances.”

BOTH managers heaped praise on their goalkeepers after the battle of the League One strugglers ended in stalemate.

Wimbledon’s Nik Tzanev was the hero for his side with a string of outstanding stops.

The pick of his saves came after 52 minutes when he spread himself to block Jonah Ayunga’s shot from inside the box after a neat Rovers passing move.

Tzanev also made the only two firsthalf saves, diving to his left to keep out Luke McCormick’s 24thminute shot and beating away a Sam Nicholson drive in stoppage time.

But there were also important late contributions from Rovers keeper Joe Day, who did well to deny Wimbledon substitute Ollie Palmer when he broke clear in the 85th minute.

Day also had to dive to keep out a late effort from Joe Pigott when the visitors belatedly came to life as an attacking force.

Rovers boss Joey Barton said: “We needed our keeper to stand strong at the end and he did so superbly.

“We had already lost six-pointers to Wigan and Burton. It’s vital in games against the teams around you in the table that if you don’t win them, you take something.

“Joe’s saves ensured a clean sheet, which gives us something to build on.

“We have taken four points from two home games this week, so there is cause for us to be positive.”

Zain Westbrooke also went close with an early free kick and Ayunga fired over from an Alex Rodman cross as Rovers created all the chances before the break.

But in the end battling Wimbledon deserved their point.

And boss Mark Robinson felt his side might have had a penalty in the closing minutes when Pigott went down under a challenge from behind by Jack Baldwin.

“It was similar to about 15 fouls the ref had given in the game, so maybe we were a bit unlucky,” he said.

“But I haven’t seen the incident again and I am not going to make a lot of it.

“At the same time, I’m delighted for

Nik Tzanev, who has made some important saves for us.

“He is a young keeper, who has not had enough men’s football because we didn’t get his development right before I took over.”

CHRIS Beech hailed Offrande Zanzala after his two goals helped Carlisle end an eight-game winless run.

Rhys Bennett opened the scoring before Zanzala’s double put the game beyond Bradford.

Gareth Evans did grab a second-half consolation for the visitors, who fell to successive defeats for the first time since December.

And Beech was full of praise for Zanzala.

“That’s three in two games for Zanzala and he’s arrived now, hasn’t he?” Beech said.

“I’ve spoken to him privately and he’s responded. I thought he led the line really well, he was a handful.

“His second came at a really good time for us as a team, because we were dominating and we needed to get something just to help us to turn the screw.

“We’ve stayed together and that’s what we’ll continue to do, as we saw in this performance. We were powerful, determined and committed and you could see the players grow in stature after they got their first goal.”

Callum Guy saw an early effort well stopped by Bradford keeper Sam Hornby.

But the hosts did take the lead when Bennett bagged his first goal in more than three months when he headed home Guy’s pin-point corner.

Zanzala doubled the hosts’ lead six minutes before the break when he poked past Hornby.

The in-form frontman then secured his first brace for 16 months when he nodded Brennan Dickenson’s cross in 11 minutes into the second period.

The Bantams did pull one back when Evans converted Elliot Watt’s free-kick.

Then Mansfield loanee Andy Cook squandered a glorious chance to half the deficit when his chipped effort went wide.

But it was not enough to prevent from defeat with joint-manager Mark Trueman left disappointed at how his side dealt with the elements.

“Wind played a factor in the first half and they played it well,” he said.

“They had two set plays, put a lot of bodies around the keeper and pressured us.

“We’ve got to stay a bit closer to our men during those set plays.

“We needed to manage the conditions, the environment played a factor today. It’s a ground that is open.”