Blackpool FC: Neil Critchley gives his verdict on the Seasiders' start to 2024 against Lincoln City

Olly Casey and CJ Hamilton were both on the scoresheet as the Seasiders bounced back from their dismal end to 2023.

Critchley is hopeful his side will be able to replicate their performances at Bloomfield Road when they are away from the Fylde Coast

"We’ve played some of the bigger teams away from home, so they have to come to our place, and we’re good here- our record shows that,” he said.

"What we need to do, if we want to be near the top of the league, is improve away from home.

"In our previous two games we played far better football, with a lot more final third entries and crosses into the box, but we just didn’t take our chances.

"We scored from a set piece today, and the game changed. We need to stay calm and keep believing in what we are doing.

"It’s a nice feeling to win. It’s a couple of goals and a clean sheet- which is a good way to start the new year; it was important after our last two results.

"I’m proud of the player’s efforts in difficult circumstances and they got their just rewards. We were keen to rectify what happened in the last week, it’s been a tough little period for us but you can have that in this league.

"You don’t get time to work on things in between fixtures, you just need to roll into the games and trust your process.”

After opening the scoring from a free kick routine, Critchley is hopeful the Seasiders can score similar goals on a more consistent basis.

"It’s something we want to improve upon and have actually worked on,” he added.

"We’ve been getting closer all of the time, and scored at Cambridge with a wide free kick. It was another great delivery from Kaddy (Karamoko Dembele) against Lincoln, and Olly (Casey) timed his run well to score a really nice header.

"We came close with a couple of corners. Set pieces make a difference and can give you a foothold in the game.”