Defiant Holloway dismisses critics

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has hit back at doom-mongers who claim his team are heading towards relegation. After a bright start to the season, the Tangerines are now in a battle for safety after collecting just four points from their last nine games. Holloway said: "I am delighted there are people below us. We could have been crashed and burned by now if I'd listened to everyone else, saying we were only going to get 10 points." He added: "We have 32 and that would have kept us up last season - you have to take stock from something. "I don't look at people catching us - they haven't caught us, they are still below us. "Should we be above anyone, on paper, at this level? I don't think so." Blackpool face Lancashire rivals Blackburn, another team to have hit a worrying patch of form, at Ewood Park on Saturday. Rovers are above Blackpool only on goal difference after five defeats and a draw in six games. Yet while that may have raised concerns at Blackburn, Holloway claims the feeling is not the same at Bloomfield Road, saying: "However Blackburn look at where they are, we are delighted to be where we are. We wouldn't want to swap with where we were last season. "Where would three more points take us? We would go in the top half of the table. All this doom and gloom - one win and we would be back up there. "Who would have expected that? Who would have given us 32 points by now?"

Source: PA