Richard Keogh ‘so proud’ of Blackpool despite seeing three-goal lead disappear

Interim Blackpool boss Richard Keogh praised his side despite throwing away a three-goal lead to draw 4-4 at Cambridge in Sky Bet League One.

Keogh took charge following Neil Critchley’s sacking this week and looked set to guide his team to victory as they went 4-1 up soon after half-time, only for Cambridge to produce a rousing fightback and secure a draw.

“I was so proud of the boys,” said Keogh afterwards. “It’s been a mad week for everyone involved.

“In the last two days the lads have been absolutely fantastic, they gave so much energy, took on what we wanted and I thought they did that for 65, 70 minutes. I thought we were brilliant.

“I was so proud of them but then the frustration kicks in. When you’re 4-1 up away from home and you’re so in control of the game, after the second goal that shouldn’t affect us like it did. It’s frustrating.

“I felt like we needed to manage the game better, that’s the overriding feeling at the moment. We didn’t. Fair play to them, they had nothing to lose, they kept chucking people forward.

“When you’re a little bit tired because you’ve put so much energy into the game, that’s when your concentration can come down a little bit.

“I don’t want to take away too much, of course I wanted to win the game but my overriding feeling is that I’m so proud of them.”

Garry Monk said Cambridge responded in the right way against Blackpool, having said his team felt sorry for themselves in losing to Crawley last weekend.

“I see them on a daily basis so I know what they can do, I know what character’s in there,” said Monk afterwards.

“In those moments you’re interested, who’s going to do it, who’s going to show it? Even more so when you’ve said it at half-time and then within a few minutes the fourth one’s gone in. And they showed it.

“Of course when you make some changes you want that to happen. It doesn’t happen all the time but you want players to come on the pitch and really impact the game and cause them a problem. As soon as that happened we really got on the front foot.

“I’m pleased for the players in that respect, that they were able to show that level of character. That’s not easy to do. Sometimes two or three of them might show it, not everyone, but I thought all of them today went at it.

“They could have given up after that fourth goal but that’s a positive for all of us and all our fans to see, the players to see themselves, that we have got that in us.”