Grayson praises ‘heart, soul and desire’ of Blackpool comeback
Posted Wednesday, August 21, 2019 by PA
Simon Grayson was right to be wary of Gillingham as his Blackpool side recovered a two-goal deficit to earn a 2-2 draw and move to the top of Sky Bet League One.
The Tangerines boss had cautioned his players about the ‘scrap’ they might face at Priestfield and was proved right as they went 2-0 down following a first-half brace from Alex Jakubiak.
But an immediate response in the form of goals from summer signing Sullay Kaikai and Armand Gnanduillet saw Grayson’s men level things up before the break.
“We had to show a different side to us today. We started on the back foot, they started brightly, we went 2-0 down but we showed characteristics that we’ve maybe not seen before this season,” said Grayson.
“We warned the players before the game that you have to be on the front foot and scrap against any Steve Evans side you play.
“We probably didn’t do that, nor did we keep the ball like we’d want to. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb early on, but after that we got a grip of the game, changed system to a 4-3-3 and the players responded.
“It was a good performance and there was heart, soul and desire in there with some decent play at times.
“Their goalkeeper made a fantastic a save from Sullay [Kaikai] at 2-2, but obviously we realise they were putting balls and bodies into our box late on.
“Because of the land of the giants that they had up front, they were testing us. We stood firm and after being 2-0 down. We’ll take a point.”
Evans likened his team’s performance to an unsatisfactory dining experience and rued the bad luck that he believes is plaguing his players currently.
The Gills remain winless this season, picking up just two points so far, but despite the stuttering start and injury troubles, Evans remains optimistic about the future.
“That game was like us going for a meal – we’ve not even had the starter. That was like a canapé,” he said.
“We’re without some big players and we’ve had no luck since we came in on June 1 but you have to make your own luck.
“Hopefully that will change – the boys can’t put anything more in and we will only get better.
“The players are still getting to know each other, but we’ll do OK.
“Blackpool took advantage of two errors we made and we seem to keep on getting punished for those at the moment.
“We should have been three or four up at that stage and even in the second half our goalkeeper only made one save, which was a superb one.”
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