Ian Evatt lauds Blackpool ‘courage’ after hitting back to earn draw with Lincoln

Blackpool boss Ian Evatt praised his side’s courage after coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Lincoln at Bloomfield Road.

Jack Moylan and Rob Street had helped the Imps take a two-goal advantage inside 18 minutes before the Seasiders gave themselves something to fight for following a Lee Evans penalty.

Ashley Fletcher found an equaliser with six minutes remaining to see the points shared on the Fylde Coast.

Drawing a comparison to Blackpool’s recent 3-0 defeat to Reading at home, Evatt stated: “I’ll always speak honestly to our supporters.

“I said to our players, ‘I don’t see any courage and I don’t see any resilience, I don’t think we’ve got enough people ready to stand up to be counted’.

“Today they’ve proved me wrong and they’ve proved the supporters wrong. I’m the first one to admit it and I’ve told them that I’m proud of the way they’ve reacted.

“That shows they can do it and they can be resilient. That was a much better response and I’m proud we had full control. We’ll dust ourselves down, if you can’t win; you don’t lose.

“They’re a team that are third in the league and we’ve dominated the game for large parts, so there’s progression.

“It’s been a good week, if we’d won today then it would’ve been a great week.

“The thing we spoke about post Reading was when we do go behind it’s about reacting in the right way and showing we have courage and the belief to come back – today we’ve done that.”

Lincoln boss Michael Skubala admitted it felt like two points dropped after leading for so long.

He said: “We’re disappointed but more frustrated about the game and how it panned out.

“I thought there were loads of positives in the first half – we dominated the game. The shape looked good and I felt we looked solid.

“The lads executed the plan well and we’re 2-0 up and we think that we’re in control.

“A moment where we just need to clear our lines and one moment gets them back into it.

“In the second half we started well, but we needed to get a third. If we go 3-1 then we win that game.

“We’re frustrated by the goal, the lad shanked it so it’s a sloppy one. We feel like we’ve dropped two points.

“Blackpool’s position isn’t realistic, they’re a good team with a good manager and a strong squad.

“At the end of the season it will look like a good point, but today, when you’re 2-0 up, it feels like points dropped.

“When the dust settles there were some really good performances.”