There is concern for Blackpool as fans pour out of Bloomfield Road during 3-0 defeat to Reading in League One on Saturday afternoon.
Kamari Doyle put the travelling Royals ahead on 29 minutes, slotting into the bottom corner from 12 yards out.
On 69 minutes, Michael Ihiekwe brought down Daniel Kyerewaa in the area, with the referee awarded Reading a penalty. Lewis Wing stepped up and smashed it low and hard into the bottom left corner.
And as the game neared the closing stages, Randell Williams got Reading’s third, also sealing his side’s first without an away league win of the season.
Ahead of the 3pm kick off, the result took Reading to 14th with 22 points from 17 games played, whilst the Tangerines are drop below Plymouth to second bottom.
We’re winning at Blackpool….
Doyle!#Readingfc pic.twitter.com/O1bxwUhWUs
— Mo B (@MoB31629658) November 29, 2025
Big, BIG goal for Reading, who finally have some breathing space
Just the fourth league game this season in which we’ve scored more than once! pic.twitter.com/aWVKIPt1xN
— The Tilehurst End (@TheTilehurstEnd) November 29, 2025
Kyerewaa at the heart of it again, cuts infield and has a shot well saved. Long Kelvin on the followup saved, then RANDELL WILLIAMS tucks home for 3-0!
And what about the celebration! #ReadingFC pic.twitter.com/P0RIx5h346
— The Tilehurst End (@TheTilehurstEnd) November 29, 2025
Blackpool boss Ian Evatt said, per Blackpool Gazette: “It’s difficult – it’s a low point for me and a low point for this club. It should be a low point for the players.
“I’ll try to look at the game as a coach. I think we actually started okay, we had two massive chances with Andy Lyons and Hayden (Coulson). If they go in then it’s probably different. We had control of the game.
“Then the first real attack they had, they scored. After that, they completely rocked us. We lost our belief and our clarity of thought. We lost the ability to make rational decisions.
“We can’t be that affected by going behind. I’m still learning about the players, and today has been my biggest learning day about them. Fundamentally, I have to take responsibility, I am the head coach at this football club. The first person I will look at is me.
“We cannot be affected mentally by any adversity. It should inspire and not discourage. The minute they scored, we were completely discouraged and let ourselves down.
“The frustrating part for me is, everything I saw before I came here I saw after going behind today, and it sort of reverted back to type. It’s my job to fix it. I love this club, this is my club, and it hurts me more than anyone else. We have to work hard to make sure it don’t happen again.
The Blackpool fans are leaving Bloomfield Road after Reading make it 3-0.#readingfc pic.twitter.com/oqH8EDiWWY
— Ramy Abou-Setta (@ramy_abousetta) November 29, 2025
Anyone know when Blackpool are turning up? #readingfc pic.twitter.com/58rhMvETFr
— 1871Ty (@1871Ty) November 29, 2025
“We need help from the injuries, I’ve said that all along. The players we’ve had to pick have been the only option, so we need some of the lads back. This has to be a moment of reset, they have to take all of the critique. I have a firm belief that we can sort this out and get better.
“The defeat as a whole hurts, I hate losing, and I hate losing for this football club. Do I think we deserved to lose 3-0? – Probably not, we had chances we didn’t take. We had a lot of control of the ball, but we were so passive and fearful, we chose to play sideways and backwards instead of taking risks.
“Those spaces were there, but we turned them down. One thing I can guarantee in football, is you’re going to go behind in games. You’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some, and you’re going to draw some, so it’s about being consistent with your mind and your performance.
“The good thing about football is, you always get a chance to respond. Hopefully this is our rock bottom. We speak about rock bottom a lot. It’s a difficult industry to be part of because you do have highs and lows, and today is one of those days where it is rock bottom and we need to find a way to improve things.”
Ian Evatt assesses today’s game. 📽️
🍊 #UTMP | @sbk pic.twitter.com/U4njSV9F1c
— Blackpool FC (@BlackpoolFC) November 29, 2025
Reading’s Leam Richardson said: “All the credit goes to the players. They’ve been outstanding this week, with the output in training.
“It’s never easy to travel away with the distance that we have with the numbers that we’ve got, up to a place like this, when these are going well themselves, but I thought we conducted ourselves very well.
“Honestly, I thought we started the game relatively slowly, but then I thought we were very comfortable, both in possession and out of possession today.
On the impressive Kyerewaa, he added: “The staff have been working with Daniel very hard. I put demands on people because they’ve got a role in the team to play. Your forward players have got to be destructive and today I thought Daniel was excellent.
“We talked about possession, position, penetration etcetera with our mantra through the week, and I thought his finishing positions were good today, he could have had a couple.
“Daniel is very proactive and aggressive in what he does, that’s what we want from our wide players, we want our front four or five to score goals. Everybody needs to start shipping in and having that responsibility. It was a big result for us.”
Here’s how Twitter users reacted, with concern for Blackpool as fans pour out of Bloomfield Road during a 3-0 defeat to Reading…
@Athers83: Looking forward to completing the 92 in league 2 next season. Cheers lads. Another weekend ruined. Put Ihiekwe in the nearest care home. Not seen a worse individual performance like that since John O’Kane’s days #UTMP
@theliammayo: Club legend or not, anybody who thinks having 3 centre backs, one of which being Michael fucking Ihiekwe on the pitch for 80 minutes when losing at home is acceptable, should never manage a game of professional football again.
@Samuel_P_Currie: Ihiekwe, Brown, and Evans. Drag each one of them in front of the supporters & have them explain why, when they lose the ball, they find it acceptable to walk back? Ihiekwe’s whole demeanor and body language makes him comfortably the least likeable player at the club. Disgusting
@JoshMelling: Ditch the back 3 we don’t have the players for it and we can’t spend again. If Evatt that inflexible he needs to go.
@HereLiesJeff: We are genuinely going to get relegated. The squad largely look totally defeated and unphased. I hope Sadler is ready for a big January. Poor team selection and set-up again though. Where the fearless attacking football is, I have no clue.
@Tristan81458868: these players are terrible and deserve the majority of the blame for this season, however evatt got it wrong today. no banks, and subbing on hansson before banks. shameful
@dan_masonn01: The players couldn’t care less, every single 1 of them walking over the pitch at 1-0, 2-0 and 3-0, if Ihiekwe was a horse he’d be fucking shot, things are even worse then we all thought, the signings we made over the summer were good on paper, but on the pitch they’re a disgrace.
@beardall_callum: Can’t blame the manager, can’t blame the board! Time to start point fingers at this lot of players every single one of them today absolutely bobbins fucking shameful
@Christmasfanat2: Staggering… more than a couple need dropping and play the kids. Make them earn their spot back as we’re going down anyway. AND START BANKS FFS!
@hcurtissmith09: league two calling
@kieran_h1910: Genuinely never want to see CJ or Ihiekwe play for us again, they’re non-league quality. Same with Evans, fucking strolling off at 1-0 down is a disgrace. Club is absolutely rotten to the core, and half of that lot aren’t fit to wear the shirt.
@CaseyAdamsLOFC: Every week I say there’s no chance of Blackpool getting relegated. The way they recruited over the summer you would have thought they would easily be in the top 6. Only hope for them is that the gap between 23rd and 11th is 7 points. A few wins and your out of it
@MCRSeasiders: At this rate, delaying the Ian-Evattible. Atrocious today.
@SteedoBFC1887: In huge trouble. Huge huge trouble. Worst goal difference in the league. Can’t create anything. Can’t defend.
