Ian Evatt salutes ‘brilliant effort’ from Blackpool during victory over Exeter

Ian Evatt states his Blackpool team demonstrated everything he expects in their vital 1-0 victory over Exeter.

Tom Bloxham scored the only goal of the big Good Friday clash at Bloomfield Road.

The Seasiders now sit five points above the Grecians, who currently occupy the final relegation spot.

“It’s three wins and a draw in the last four which is huge under this pressure, it’s a brilliant effort,” Evatt said.

“It was important that we became harder to beat. I think in the games we’ve lost heavily, we’ve not been cut to ribbons, it’s been more of a capitulation and it’s something we speak about – getting better with resilience because I’ll guarantee things will go against us and we’ll have to react.

“Three clean sheets on the trot is superb at this stage of the season. The first half in particular was as good as we’ve played this year. We should’ve and could’ve been out of sight, but that’s not our way at the moment, maybe it’s best for us to show the other side that we can dig and fight to see games through.

“We can’t afford to miss those chances, but it was great that we created them.

“I can’t fault their effort, commitment and desire – it’s what we wanted to see from this football team. It’s what it stands for.”

Exeter boss Matt Taylor admitted it felt like a big defeat for his side as they head into their final five fixtures three points adrift of Wigan in 20th, having played one additional game.

“The first half especially in terms of our inability to deal with balls over our backline, our left side never got a handle on how the game was and it cost us a goal – and in fairness it could’ve cost us more than one,” he said.

“We improved in the second half because we had to. We used the ball better without creating any clear cut chances, but we have to be honest in terms of what that defending looked like and felt like – it was miles off it.

“With no disrespect to the way Blackpool were getting in, it was long balls down one side of the pitch. It happened too many times. We’ve got five there, we can’t have any more white shirts there. The fact they got there first so often suggests what a big problem it was.

“We were chasing the game from the 35th minute onwards. We actually did it quite, we got some elements of control, but they always had a threat about them with the physical aspect of their team, then it’s pressure on execution and quality in that final third.”