Ian Evatt has stated his Blackpool side lost their confidence after throwing away any chance of mounting a comeback against AFC Wimbledon.
The Tangerines had recovered from goals in each half from the hosts at Plough Lane when Niall Ennis scored just after the hour mark, but squandered any chance at a late leveller when gifting Zack Nelson an added-time goal, which was later added onto by Omar Bugiel.
Ryan Johnson opening the scoring with his first-ever goal at Plough Lane ☝️#AFCW 🟡🔵
— AFC Wimbledon (@AFCWimbledon) March 11, 2026
Evatt Delivers Home Truths
Defeat in London has left Blackpool in serious danger of relegation to League Two, with the three teams directly above them all having a game in hand on the Bloomfield Road club.
Despite hopes that the former Bolton Wanderers man could right the ship and get the Seasiders firmly away from the bottom four, Evatt now has 10 games to rescue the club from the humiliation of a first return to the fourth tier since 2017.
Speaking to the Blackpool Gazette after the game against Wimbledon, the 44-year-old said:
“We just didn’t give ourselves a chance in the game. We conceded two really poor goals to start with.
“After that, we wrestled control of the game, we got the goal and we’re in the ascendency and it’s us trying to push, then when we are trying to open the game up in the last five or six minutes, we concede another awful goal from a wayward pass.
“Obviously, confidence goes, everything else goes and we end up conceding a fourth. It was never a 4-1 game – anyone here would see that – but it’s the same theme and we have to do better.”
“When things go against us, we are very mentally fragile and we end up conceding and we can’t reset. We’ve spoken about it, we’ve had lots of honest conversations about it, but the same thing keeps reoccurring.”
Still Enough Time To Save Season
With Blackpool now on the back foot in their hopes to avoid an embarrassing relegation, hopes of recovering are beginning to dwindle should they fail to recover from their spiral.
Ian Evatt’s arrival has seen him do just enough to keep the Tangerines in touch with the teams currently outside of the relegation zone, but good spells from the teams around them have now put them in serious danger.
They have an immediate chance to put themselves on much better ground at the weekend against Doncaster Rovers, and then play bottom-placed Port Vale the following Tuesday.
Should they pick up six points from those games and keep their current spell of form going, Blackpool could do just enough to stave off the bottom four come the end of the season.
