Andy Butler proud of Scunthorpe display in FA Cup defeat at Blackpool

Scunthorpe boss Andy Butler was full of pride following the National League side’s narrow 1-0 FA Cup exit at League One Blackpool.

Ashley Fletcher’s first-half strike separated the two sides at Bloomfield Road as Ian Evatt secured a win in his first home game in charge.

“I thought after the first 15 minutes we were the better side,” reflected Butler.

“We stuck to our tasks unbelievably and if that’s the standards the players can push themselves to, who knows what we’re capable of. It’s a frustrating loss, we created chances, and I honestly couldn’t be prouder.

“I keep going back to the ‘we’ collective, we’re all in it together. It’s not just my players and staff, it’s everyone and if we all still buy into it, who knows where we can go.

“It’s an unfortunate goal to concede for us but take that away, we created more than enough chances to score this afternoon.”

Evatt has recorded back-to-back wins to begin his Blackpool tenure and was pleased with his first match in the Bloomfield Road dugout.

He said: “Sometimes when you’re expected to win, you don’t get the credit that a win deserves. This is the second week of our development so there’s going to be highs and there’s going to be lows.

“We’re not going to turn into the team I want us to be overnight, but what they are giving me is effort, spirit, desire and commitment. I’ll have that all day long – we’ve won two games back-to-back, when was the last time we did that?

“Credit to Scunthorpe, they came and had a good go. They’re a team playing full of confidence and were throwing everything at us.

“We had chances in the second half to make the game a little bit easier but we didn’t take them.

“It was a tough draw because we had everything to lose and they had everything to gain – at times the game looked like that. They were aggressive and intense and they’re used to winning, but we hung in there.”