Blackpool coping with '˜vast' pressure, says McDonald

The Seasiders have five games to avoid back-to-back relegations and lie just one point above the bottom four.

McDonald’s men have taken 10 points from the last 12 and the manager believes they are coping well.

He said: “The spirit is good. It’s been fine all the way through, though we got a little frustrated at times.

“We are playing under a vast amount of pressure, so I’m really pleased with how the players are handling it all.

“Results didn’t go for us the other night but we have to concentrate on our own results.

“A few teams around the bottom have to play each other, so not everyone can win maximum points. We have to just look after ourselves and not worry about the rest.

“We’ll let everyone else worry about that and put pressure on themselves.”

McDonald was at Fleetwood on Tuesday to watch Town jump above Pool with a 2-0 win over Peterborough.

McDonald said: “Fleetwood deserved their victory. I was disappointed with Peterborough, and hopefully if it comes down to the last game they will play as badly against us as they did on Tuesday.

“Plenty of teams at the bottom are showing they can put together a run ... but that includes us too. We are on a good run of form now.

“The players know the situation we are in. It’s a case of onwards and upwards.”

Tomorrow’s second-bottom visitors Colchester have also seen an upturn in form, though defeat would all but condemn them to League Two.

Pool drew at Colchester on the opening day, though only five players who started that game were in McDonald’s side which beat Southend last Saturday.

“That shows how much of a turnaround we’ve had,” said the manager. “It’s been an ongoing process all season.

“The poor start was probably only natural after the turnover of players we’d had. At times we haven’t been good enough but we’ve worked really hard to turn it around.

“After the bad start, I hope we can finish really strongly.”