Ian Evatt: Blackpool players need to believe they can survive relegation battle

Blackpool boss Ian Evatt said it is down to his players to believe they can still survive in League One following the damaging defeat at Doncaster.

The Seasiders missed the chance to climb out of the bottom four and above Rovers as they fell to a 2-1 loss.

Goals from Owen Bailey and substitute Hakeeb Adelakun gave Doncaster a deserved two-goal advantage in a game of little quality, with Ashley Fletcher netting what proved to be a late consolation before Fraser Horsfall was dismissed in the dying seconds for Blackpool for two bookable offences.

Evatt admitted the size of the task facing his team over their final nine games has only increased, but said they needed trust to overcome it.

“I’ve just said to the players that we’ve got to believe that we’ve still got the games to do it,” he said.

“It’ll be a lot more difficult now. It’s going to be a lot more challenging but it’s not over. We have to believe it’s not over.

“We’ve got games at home that we know we can win to get us points. Tuesday against Port Vale is now critical to win, nothing else is acceptable.

“We’ve formed a nasty habit of losing moments in football matches, and this is a moments league. You’ve got to make sure you defend the moments and take the moments when they come.

“There was nothing in this game apart from set plays but that’s the theme for us. We knew it was going to be a set play or a mistake that would decide the game.

“To concede two set plays is really tough – we’re not giving ourselves a chance. It’s the same theme.”

Doncaster manager Grant McCann praised his players for sticking to the plan to see off Blackpool and open up a five-point cushion on the League One relegation zone.

Against his usual approach, McCann had instructed his players to be more direct to combat a worsening pitch at the Eco-Power Stadium, and was pleased with the performance.

He said: “It was a tough game and wasn’t really a very good spectacle.

“We’ve played against two footballing teams this week – Luton and Blackpool – and they’ve both come here and changed their approach. That’s due to the surface, it’s tough to play on.

“We’re the same. We’ve tried to adapt a wee bit and play over the top of it, in the opposition’s half.

“The last thing we want to do is be taking risks because the ball is bouncing all over the place.

“I thought the boys stuck to what we asked them to do in the last couple of games and we should have six points from it because we should have beaten Luton.

“We’ve created a lot of opportunities today, got two good goals and win the game, which was the most important thing.”