Blackpool FC: Neil Critchley gives his verdict on the Seasiders' draw with Oxford United- as he praises key characteristic

Jordan Rhodes scored a late equaliser to cancel out Greg Leigh’s first half goal, as the Seasiders came away from the Kassam Stadium with a well deserved point.

Critchley was pleased with the determination his side demonstrated to come from behind for the first time this season.

"When I first came to the club, I always said we’d have a team that represented the people within the area,” he stated.

“This club is about saying ‘never say die’- we go right until the end and give everything regardless of the scoreline.

"We’ve done that this season, even in the games we lost.

"You need that in the tough moments, and we showed what we are about in abundance.

“The players are an honest bunch and they’re brilliant to work with. If we keep producing performances like that then we’ll keep moving forward.

"We didn’t play with enough intent before the break, and credit to Oxford- they played well and had good control of the game; without really threatening our goal, except for the goal which we defended poorly for.

"We were a little bit passive and a bit too far off, and the goal epitomised that.

"We switched off and didn’t defend the ball into the box well enough, and that’s the reason we were 1-0 down.

"In the second half it completely changed. We came out with more aggression and took the game to Oxford.

"We were the dominant team, and showed more aggression with and without the ball- the least we deserved was a point.

"If we had scored with 10 minutes to go, we could’ve gone on and won the game.

"When you get into injury time, you think it’s not going to be your day, but this team never gives us.

"This is the first time this we’ve come from behind this season to take something, and that’s really important.

"It’s was exactly how I want us to play- domination of the ball and possession.

"Sometimes you need to go sideways and backwards to go forward.

"I felt like we had them, and the substitutes made a difference.”