Song as he seals Pool’s win at U’s
BLACKPOOL boss Neil Critchley was proud of his team after they made it four straight away wins with victory at Oxford United.
First-half goals from Kenny Dougall and Danny Ballard did the trick, both goals coming from corners.
Critchley said: “I thought we had all the facets of our game together. Our defensive organisation was added to with some really good moments of football – and goals.
“I thought we gave a really good team lots of problems.
“The only criticism I could have is we’ve not scored one or two more goals. But I can’t praise the players enough – I was really proud of that display.
“I thought we started the game very well, we were on top, and we said we needed to score when we’re in the ascendancy.
“There were some very good individual performances from us and the three points was nothing less than we deserved.”
Sullay Kaikai went close with a 20-yard drive, and a 30-yard free-kick that Jack Stevens got down on his knees to save.
Mark Sykes cleared off the line from Ballard, before Blackpool went in front after 16 minutes. Dougall struck when he was alive in the box to turn the ball in as the U’s failed to clear Luke Garbutt’s corner.
Three minutes before the break they converted again, Ballard heading home Kaikai’s cross following a corner.
Oxford had more attacking purpose in the second half and Chris Maxwell saved from Olamide Shodipo and Dan Agyei. But Blackpool were worthy winners and almost got a third, Elliot Embleton’s shot glancing off the bar.
Oxford boss Karl Robinson said: “It was two good, strong teams with nothing between them and we’ve been done by two set plays.
“I thought our set-play delivery was abysmal, and theirs was terrific.
“We knew they were going to press up so we said to our players before the start ‘don’t play backwards’ yet that’s exactly what we did.
“Today we didn’t do the basics. We were so naive.
“The effort was there, but there were so many under-performances in our team. How we can go from being so good on Tuesday night to being so under-par today amazes me.”