“The time for words is not now, it’s the time for action”: Ian Evatt’s message to Blackpool’s players

Wednesday’s 4-1 loss at AFC Wimbledon – a 12th defeat in 18 away league games this season – dropped the Seasiders back into the bottom four on goal difference.

They visit Doncaster Rovers (3pm), who are two points and three places above them in the table after their 1-1 draw with Luton Town on Tuesday.

Evatt told Blackpool’s website: “Football gives you another chance, an opportunity and, yet again, we’re speaking about reactions.

“We need to react, we need to do things better than we did for large periods of Wednesday and we’ve got that opportunity and chance against another direct competitor.

“We know that if we can go there and win, we’ll go above them in the table which is huge for us.

“Now’s the time to draw a line through the previous 36 games because we can’t change and affect that.

“What we can do is have a 10-game mini-season and mini-league which we have to finish top of.

“There’s no reason why we can’t with the games we’ve got, with the teams around us, but the time for words is not now, it’s the time for action and we have to action it on Saturday.”

As for today’s opposition, they have taken one point from the last nine after consecutive wins against Huddersfield Town and Rotherham United last month.

Asked what test he expects from Doncaster, Evatt said: “Tough, they’re a difficult team to play against; lots of rotation, lots of chaos created.

“We know what we need to do to get a result, but it starts with the basics.

“Too often we haven’t done the basics well enough. I love the tactical aspect and technical detail of the game but it starts with running more, competing more, winning more duels, winning more second balls.

“Every 50-50, we should be coming out on top, and if we can start there for the next 10 games and be consistent with that, then we’ll be fine – too often we haven’t been consistent with that.”