McPhillips bemoans ‘horrible’ stalemate as Shrews tame Seasiders

Terry McPhillips was left disappointed after seeing his Blackpool side draw a blank in a “horrible” goalless draw with Shrewsbury.

Chris Long struck the bar for Blackpool late on as their clash with the Shrews petered out and McPhillips was not impressed with what he saw.

It was a real blow for Blackpool’s play-off hopes as they lost ground on their rivals in the Sky Bet League One table.

McPhillips said: “That’s probably a positive, the clean sheet, and I think we’ve got 15 now.

“I had a little gut feeling before the game, and I didn’t want to tell anyone, that it was going to be a draw just because we drew down there.

“It wasn’t a classic, we didn’t play very well in the first half, it’s as bad as we’ve done. Not with effort, but just with decision-making, passing, and quality.

“We changed it in the second half and did better. I thought with the attitude and application, we were having a right good go at the end and I think Armand (Gnanduillet) should score his header.

“Longy has a brilliant effort and it comes off the bar. They had opportunities mainly via when we passed it to them and they counter-attacked us a few times.

“They set up here to make it really hard for us to get behind them and it was.

“I knew there wasn’t going to be many goals in it because we’re not bad at defending. In the end, it was a horrible 0-0.”

Josh Laurent had the best opportunities for the visitors, while Gnanduillet also headed over before Long launched his fierce late effort.

Shrewsbury could have gone in front after just 10 minutes when James Bolton cut back for Laurent, but the forward skewed off target.

Ryan Haynes’ throw-in was nodded on for Laurent who fired straight at Christoffer Mafoumbi before 20 minutes and the forward later charged into the box to rifle just wide.

After the break, Jordan Thompson’s low effort from outside the box evaded Arnold’s goal and Ollie Norburn’s shot from distance deflected wide before the hour.

Gnanduillet headed Liam Feeney’s corner inches over in the 66th minute and the Seasiders nearly grabbed an 81st-minute winner when the former Chesterfield forward found Long on the break.

Shrewsbury manager Sam Ricketts said: “First of all the game wasn’t a classic, but the performance was good.

“It just wasn’t very good because we just didn’t get the goal. We were more organised, harder to play against and especially coming away from home really controlled the first half.

“I’m not saying we controlled it with the ball, but Blackpool couldn’t really get out of their own half and it was just the last action today – that’s all we were missing.

“The final pass to create to the goal or the shot – it was just that last little piece that was missing out of what was a very, very controlled performance.”