Blackpool boss needs to make home sweet again

The Seasiders’ 3-2 Boxing Day defeat to Scunthorpe United was their fifth in six games on home turf.

Blackpool’s storming start to the League One season was based largely on their hugely impressive home form, having enjoyed a six-game unbeaten run before going down 3-1 to Wigan Athletic in October.

But it is now away from home thaat wins look the more likely. Pool are preparing to welcome another in-form side to Bloomfield Road tomorrow – Plymouth Argyle have won four of their last six league games.

Pool boss Bowyer said: “Away from home we seem to be a lot more tighter but teams are coming here and sitting in against us.

“Once you give a quality team like Scunthorpe a two-goal head start, then it makes life very difficult, so it’s something we have to address, that’s for sure.”

Pool slipped to their third straight defeat against high-flying Scunthorpe on Tuesday, when former Fleetwood Town boss Graham Alexander’s Iron were gifted a 2-0 lead inside seven minutes.

The Seasiders managed to fight back but it wasn’t enough to deny Scunthorpe only their second-ever win at Bloomfield Road and their first since 2000.

“It was very disappointing,” Bowyer added. “You have to credit to Scunthorpe because they put their bodies on the line in the box and blocked shots.

“The first goal is a great strike from their lad (Tom Hopper), so we just had to hold our hands up and admit it was a great strike.

“But we needed to start both halves better and we needed to take our chances. If you’re summarising in a sentence ,there it is.

“But we’ve got to take heart and confidence from how we’ve gone about it against a team that’s in the play-offs and have the budget that they’ve got.

“For us to be competing like this and how they’ve gone about it, I’ve got nothing but praise for the players.

“What we have to do is erase the gifts that we keep on giving people here.

“For us to go and create the number of chances we have against a side like Scunthorpe is a credit to us.

“But we have to keep on at it now. We’ve scored two and that’s the frustrating bit because we’ve still lost.

“That’s where we need to tighten up, especially at home. Away from home we seem to be doing a lot better.”