BLACKPOOL manager Neil Critchley described football as “a cruel game” after his side’s last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Cherries on Saturday.

Siriki Dembele struck in the final minute of stoppage time after Jamal Lowe’s already late equaliser to nullify Josh Bowler’s stunning opener.

Head coach Scott Parker had to shuffle his pack and play a number of Cherries stars out of position to produce any kind of reaction, with the Dorset club not looking like scoring at all as the clock ran down.

It left Critchley hurting, although he insisted that there was nothing to be downhearted about other than the result.

“Football can be a cruel game sometimes,” he told the club website.

“I’m really disappointed because we’ve just taken a top team in the division right to the wire.

“We deserved more I thought, in what were very difficult conditions. I’m so proud of all the players – they didn’t deserve that result.

“We looked confident and overall I thought we were as good as them, but that was a cruel ending to the game.”

He continued: “We controlled most of the play, relatively well anyway, and we matched them for most of the game. Maybe you need that bit of luck in front of goal sometimes. That was against us at times today.

“It would have been fitting had Josh’s goal won the game, but as I said, football can be cruel. That result wasn’t justified, so we have to be positive about the performance overall.

“We’ve absolutely nothing to be downhearted about after that, other than the scoreline of course.”