Jones gives his verdict on the loss at Bloomfield Road
Town gaffer Nathan Jones felt the display from his defence was ‘out of character’ as the Hatters slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Bloomfield Road in the first leg of their play-of semi-final.
Blackpool took the lead when ex-Hatter Mark Cullen slotted home, before Dan Potts smashed in his first goal for the Hatters to bring the score level.
Isaac Vassell curled home from James Justin’s cross just two minutes later to give Town the lead going into the break, but a stunning strike from Cullen in the second half restored parity, before the 25-year-old sent Stuart Moore the wrong way from the penalty spot to give Pool a slender lead going into the second leg at Kenilworth Road.
Jones said: “It’s disappointing, because how we defended was totally out of character for us. We’ve got the second best defensive record in the league and I didn’t envisage that. Little mistakes, little errors and they cost us, and that was the frustrating thing.
“We showed some wonderful play to get back into the game and then to take the lead into half-time, 2-1. Just a bit of naivety second half, pretty much straight from the kick-off we concede. From a poor throw and a knock inside, it was out of character for us, but we are still in the tie.
“We have got a massive game at Kenilworth Road on Thursday night that we are going to need to show up for.
“We went behind through little errors. We should have snuffed that out, it shouldn’t have happened. Then we showed real character to come back into it and then we showed naivety.
“I don’t think it was a penalty. You can see they’re both pulling shirts. To give a penalty is a big, big call.”