Manager Gary Bowyer has spoken of his delight at putting a young but talented Everton side to the sword in this week’s EFL Trophy Group A match.
Making the trip to Goodison Park for the tie, Blackpool played out a one all draw across the regulation 90 minutes and had taken the lead in the game, but an Everton miss at the penalty stage to decide the tie handed the game to us five four on penalties – and later this morning Blackpool will find out their opponents in the next stage of the competition.
Speaking to the Official Site following the deadlock deciding victory, a pleased Bowyer explained.
‘Five out of five in a penalty shoot-out to secure bonus point. Fair play to the players, they volunteered to step forward and the penalties were very good penalties. I’m delighted because we’ve got people scoring goals then.’
It wasn’t just the penalties that Bowyer enjoyed on the day, he felt the overall performance had been worthy of victory on the evening.
‘I think the spirit in the camp, the environment that we’ve got, you don’t get performances like that if everything is not right. The performance levels again were good. To bounce back from conceding late and missing chances late, to then go on and win the penalty competition, is brilliant for us.’
He also answered questions about the debut of Macauley Wilson.
‘We’re delighted with Macauley, he came and made his debut. We sent him out on loan and we need to thank Bamber Bridge for the way they’ve looked after him. You see the benefit of him going out and playing, and we’ve got other 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds like Myles Boney playing and Bright as well. I’m delighted with the younger ones because that’s what it’s about as well, bringing your own through. We’ve got to keep trying to do that at this club.’
Of course the victory did secure progression through to the next stage of the revamped competition and Bowyer was rightly pleased with that – even if it’s fair to say plenty of fans are yet to be won over.
‘What it does provide is game time for us and we’re delighted that we’ve been able to do that tonight and progress. It’s about maintaining momentum, and we’ve managed to do that tonight. It’s two cup competitions that we’ve got through and we’ve got to take this momentum into the league on Saturday.’
