Blackpool 0 Hull City 0: Tigers boss Bruce is not happy to be beside the seaside

Blackpool’s Gilks pulled off a flying save to keep out Hull City midfielder David Meyler’s goalbound shot in the 60th minute, and opposite number Jakupovic was at full stretch himself to turn away a vicious 25-yard effort from the home side’s coveted winger Thomas Ince in the 85th minute.

Jakupovic, a Bosnian-born Switzerland international, then made another fine save in the second minute of time added on to keep out Seasiders’ substitute Nathan Delfouneso’s shot and ensured Hull stretched their unbeaten league run to eight matches.

Hull, who had won six of their previous seven Championship matches, remain second in the table, while Blackpool, for all their late pressure, have now won only one of their last six league matches.

Hull manager Steve Bruce described the Bloomfield Road pitch as “an absolute quagmire” after the draw which keeps his team in second place, two points ahead of Crystal Palace in third.

Bruce did not attempt to conceal his disdain for the playing surface.

“The pitch was terrible, an absolute quagmire,” he said. “People pay good money to watch good football and Blackpool try to play an attractive game but the pitch is so slow and horrible, it’s a mess.

“It was difficult to move the ball and impossible to run with it.”

He added: “I thought we were better in the second half and looked a bit more lively, but it is another point and who knows where it could take us.

“We keep getting the results and I can’t fault our resilience, but we had two good chances to win it.

“But the most important thing is that we secure what we have already got as we have put ourselves in a great position with 20 games to go.

“We need to handle any pressure if we are going to be successful.”

Blackpool manager Michael Appleton commented: “The state of the pitch makes it difficult for us to move the ball and do so quickly.

“It slows the game down but my biggest concern is that someone will get injured because of it.

“Players are constantly losing their feet but it was a game where you could see from the start that there wouldn’t be many chances.

“You have to see any point against Hull as a good result. We put in a solid performance and we had the better possession. We looked comfortable and getting a clean sheet is a big positive. Hopefully we will have three or four new faces in during the next couple of weeks to freshen things up.

Blackpool: Gilks, Eardley, Broadfoot, Baptiste, Crainey, Osbourne, Sylvestre, Basham, Ince, Taylor-Fletcher (Dicko 80), Thomas (Delfouneso 66). Unused substitutes: Halstead, Kevin Phillips, Cathcart, Martinez, Harris.

Hull City: Jakupovic, Chester, Faye, Hobbs, Rosenior, Meyler, Evans (Bruce 83),Quinn,Brady,Koren (Simpson 46), Aluko (Proschwitz 46). Unused substitutes: Amos, Cairney, McShane, Olofinjana.

Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).