Blackpool boss reveals impact of double injury blow as he explains substitutions in Reading defeat

The Seasiders missed out on a place in the League One play-offs, as they failed to capitalise on results elsewhere going in their favour, with both Barnsley and Lincoln City dropping points on the final weekend.

Youngster Zak Emmerson was Blackpool’s only attacking option on the bench for the trip to the Select Car Leasing Stadium, but wasn’t called upon, with head coach Neil Critchley adding to the midfield when replacing Kyle Joseph during the second half.

Explaining why Lavery and Kouassi were missing, he explained. "They’re both injured. They got injured right at the end of the week, on the same day, which was not nice because we had a plan, and had prepared. We knew what we were going to do if we were drawing with 15 minutes to go. Not having them, limits what you can do to turn the game in your favour. We had to do it with what we had on the pitch or with less attacking players- it wasn’t easy.

"We had no alternatives on the bench, I was hamstrung with the decisions I could make. We knew what we were going to do, but when they scored we couldn’t see

fruition as the game had been taken away from us.

"Kyle (Joseph) hadn’t played for ages and was struggling with cramp, and it wouldn’t be fair to bring young Zak Emmerson on the bench in that circumstance. Matty Virtue is capable of scoring from midfield and he nearly got in.

"Those injuries were really unfortunate and left us hamstrung.”