‘Comical’ - Blackpool boss Michael Appleton delivers verdict on Everton defeat

Michael Appleton felt the ‘comical’ display of the match officials played their part in Blackpool’s loss to Everton - although he had no complaints about the result.

The Toffees got their first pre-season victory under their belt with a 4-2 win against the Championship club at Bloomfield Road on Sunday.

Everton raced into a two-goal lead inside 11 minutes through Vitalii Mykolenko and Tom Davies.

In the build-up to the second goal, there were strong appeals that Salomon Rondon had run offside - although the assistant referee’s flag stayed down.

Dele Alli then netted a second-half double for what proved to be a confidence-boosting triumph for Frank Lampard’s side.

What’s been said

Speaking to the Blackpool Gazette, manager Appleton said: “Getting off to the start we did certainly wasn’t in the script or what we wanted, but the officials had a part to play in it if I’m being honest because it was a little bit comical.

“I thought once the game settled down in the first half there was a little bit of belief that grew because the start knocked a lot of the players, you could tell it knocked them off their feet a little bit and a few of them struggled to cope for about 10 minutes.

“But once it settled down it turned out to be a decent game of football.

“You need a little bit of help, you need people to do their jobs properly and clearly they didn’t from an official point of view. It was a little bit late and a little bit indifferent to say the least.

“We had a bit of a wobble for a while, a few of the lads struggled to gain momentum again but once they did we looked threatening.

“The positives from the first half were when we looked to pass the ball quicker and forward earlier and we got Lewis (Fiorini) into some decent positions. That’s how our first goal came as well, by us moving the ball a bit quicker.

“I told the players I was happy with what we saw for the majority of it, but we conceded goals in really poor moments and they were soft goals as well,” Appleton added.

“They got a little bit of luck with the fourth goal with the deflection, which didn’t help. But when we got it back to 3-2 even I was on my tip-toes on the sidelines thinking ‘come on then, it’s coming’ and it would only be a matter of time until we got the equaliser.

“But you’re up against good opposition, so if you switch off or you have one lapse of concentration then you’re going to get punished.”