Blackpool boss so pleased waiting's over

The Seasiders’ team coach was just pulling up at Oldham’s Boundary Park last Saturday when news reached them that the pitch was waterlogged and the match postponed.

It means Pool have had a two-week wait to follow up their superb 1-0 win against Gillingham and try to extend their four-game unbeaten run.

Today they welcome Micky Mellon’s Shrewsbury to Bloomfield Road and manager McDonald is delighted to finally have a game.

The Pool boss said: “It was frustrating last weekend. We were on our way to the ground when we heard the news.

“We are ahead in games anyway but it’s frustrating we haven’t played in two weeks.

“We’ve had a good few days training now and we are looking forward to hopefully continuing our good form.”

Since hammering Scunthorpe 5-0, Blackpool have scored just two goals in three games, although three clean sheets have helped them go unbeaten since Port Vale won at Bloomfield Road five weeks ago.

The manager believes Pool offer more of an attacking threat after adding Danny Philliskirk, Mark Yeates and Uche Ikpeazu last month.

McDonald insisted: “Our problem all season has been scoring goals, but in the last couple of games we’ve been able to find the back of the net. We are becoming a little more clinical now.

“We need to keep on creating chances. If we can do that and score, we will win games because we are a hard team to break now.

“We are looking very solid in defence and that’s something we must continue.”

Shrewsbury lie just a point above the relegation zone and two places below the Seasiders in League One.

Despite showing real improvement, Mellon’s side have gone three leagues games without a win, including Sunday’s goalless draw at Fleetwood.

McDonald was at Highbury for that game and is only too aware of the Shrews’ threat.

He added: “They are a hard team to break down – I saw that against Fleetwood. They have threats we have to take care of and we want to show them how much we’ve improved since we lost there.”