Critchley warns Blackpool not to ease up against Cobblers after Portsmouth thrashing

Blackpool manager Neil Critchley has warned his side not to ease off when they face Northampton on Tuesday following their 4-0 thumping of previously unbeaten league leaders Portsmouth at the weekend.

Pompey had not lost any of their 16 games but they were taken apart by Blackpool at Fratton Park as Critchley’s side made it five wins in six matches across all competitions to move level on points with the League One play-off places.

"Northampton will provide a different test for us," said Critchley. "We need to stay humble and grounded. We make sure that we take our belief and confidence that we got from our performance on Saturday and we take that into our next games. That will only happen if we continue to do certain basic fundamentals that have got us success in the first place.

“You don't get any time to pat yourself on the back or have a party, it's straight onto Tuesday night and we want to be a team that can string runs of wins together.

"We knew what to expect from Portsmouth and we went there with a really attacking team. We wanted to take the game to them and do our best to win the game, that was our approach. Carrying that on is about the consistency in our messaging.

"It's how we behave, how we train, you train your identity every single day. That's who we want to become, a team that goes to try and win every game home and away no matter if we're playing Portsmouth away or Northampton at home.

"We have to show intensity but with intelligence. You can't just go and press teams for 90 minutes, you have to do it with intelligence and everyone together. We want a team that the supporters can identify with and I think they're beginning to fall in love with their team again a little bit.

"After any setback or failure, you can lose that little bit of togetherness and I think the players in the last few weeks have grown in belief. Our mentality is improving."

On team news, Critchley added: "It's pretty much as you were to be honest.

"Shayne Lavery and Kylian Kouassi are out, they will be out for a number of weeks. Ollie Norburn was touch and go for Saturday, he did a little bit of training at the back end of last week, so I'm sure he'll put himself up for selection on Tuesday night, so we have to make a decision on him.

"As far as I know, we haven't suffered any injuries from Saturday, so the squad will be pretty much as you were."