'It shouldn't end like that': Neil Critchley left with pride despite Blackpool being stung at the death by Middlesbrough

Duncan Watmore’s last-ditch goal condemned gutsy Blackpool to a heartbreaking defeat in their final game of 2021.

Shayne Lavery appeared to have rescued the depleted Seasiders a point when he came off the bench to equalise in the first minute of stoppage time.

But Boro, who had earlier taken the lead through Andraz Sporar, still had time to win it through Watmore’s close-range finish in the 93rd minute.

Despite the gutting end to what was a see-saw encounter, Critchley only had good things to say about his players.

“I thought we were brilliant tonight,” he said.

“It was a really good game of football with two teams going right at it and not taking a step backwards. It was a great atmosphere.

“They’re the in-form team in this division, winning games and I thought in the first-half there was nothing in it really, there was nothing in the game.

“In the second-half, we were the team in the ascendancy. We played with energy and passion and we created problems for them.

“We had no luck really and we’ve deserved to take something from the game, so in lots of ways I’m really proud of the performance and how the players played.

“Football is a cruel game sometimes and that was a cruel way to end this game tonight.”

The key moment in the game came deep into stoppage time and just two minutes after Lavery had levelled.

Substitute Demetri Mitchell gave away the ball in a pivotal moment, allowing Isaiah Jones to cross for Watmore to prod home.

“It shouldn’t end like that. We don’t deserve to feel like that after the game,” Critchley said.

“The lads gave absolutely everything. We’ve patched the team up, we changed the shape because we thought it was the right thing to do to play against Middlesbrough but we’ve only had one day to work through that on the training pitch. But we carried out the plan brilliantly.

“We caused them a lot of problems in the second-half. We changed our shape when we were losing, we were getting the ball wide and we deserved our equaliser. I felt it was coming.

“They’ve not conceded in four games and rarely looked like conceding. Well we’ve caused them a lot of problems tonight.

“The game shouldn’t end in that way.”

Blackpool had more than enough chances to score before Lavery’s late leveller, hitting the post twice in the second-half alone.

Gary Madine looped an effort over the goalkeeper only to be denied by the woodwork, while the returning Callum Connolly glanced a header against the foot of the post.

“I thought Gary was tremendous, he was a real handful all night and a real focal point of our attacks,” Critchley said.

“I thought Jerry (Yates) was good as well. He was really lively and caused a lot of problems.

“With 20 minutes to go, you want to try and freshen it up and do something different and I thought Shayne and Josh reality contributed and made an impact.

“It was nice for Shayne to get that goal. He took it well and for once it actually hit the post and went in, which was nice.

“Callum Connolly had that shot which was deflected. The keeper is beaten and you just want to creep inside the post b