Soccer
Ian Evatt hails ‘really good away performance’ as Blackpool see off Grimsby
Blackpool boss Ian Evatt is not underestimating the achievement of beating last season’s Carabao Cup giant-killers Grimsby 3-1 at Blundell Park.
Niall Ennis and Josh Bowler put the visitors 2-0 ahead before Kylian Kouassi cancelled out Harvey Rodgers’ added-time reply for the hosts.
The Tangerines want to be stronger on the road in League One and they started in the right manner.
Evatt said: “I’m really pleased, we shouldn’t underestimate a win here because they’ve beaten teams at the same level and higher than us in pre-season, and they beat Man United last season.
“We’re valuing this win because one thing we want to build on from last year is our away form and away performances in particular, and today was a really good away performance.
“I think we showed an ability to dig in at times, which is what you have to to win away from home, no matter the opposition.”
For Grimsby, opening with a cup tie highlighted some things for boss David Artell that he would rather discover now than in a league fixture.
Artell said: “In all aspects of the game, we could’ve been tidier.
“In possession, we could’ve been tidier, we should’ve scored more than one and conceding three is always disappointing.
“In transition, we could’ve been tidier, and we were okay against a decent League One team.
“The fact we’re disappointed with our level of performance suggests where we’re at mentally, but we’ve got to demand more out of ourselves because we can play better.”
