Blackpool FC: Michael Appleton opting to remain as positive as possible despite Seasiders' recent results

Around 1,500 Seasiders made the trip down to Vicarage Road in good spirits after an emphatic win against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup had capped off a strong start to the January transfer window.

But Blackpool produced a laboured display, losing to two late goals to extend their winless run to 10 games.

Rather than get bogged down in the worrying statistics, Blackpool’s head coach is opting to remain as positive as he can be.

“It is frustrating, but the reality is nothing has changed in terms of what we know we need to do, we just have one game less to do it,” Appleton told The Gazette.

“We can’t really afford to worry about what goes on elsewhere, we know there are a certain amount of points we feel that if we hit, we will be okay.

“We have to stay focused on that because if we don’t, you make the task a hell of a lot more difficult than it actually is.

“There’s still a big spirit in the dressing room. You can tell they’re disappointed but the reality is it came down to those little moments again.”

The Seasiders, who haven’t won in the league since October, are now three points adrift of safety ahead of next weekend’s six-pointer against Huddersfield Town.

“If it is playing on the players’ mind, it’s certainly not a message that is coming from myself,” Appleton said about his side’s long wait for a win.

“It’s like anything, you have to concentrate on performance. You can talk about winning games but it doesn’t happen unless you play well.

“We’ve had moments over the last six or seven games where we’ve done more than enough to win games of football and even prior to that, with the four games we had leading into the break, there were three of them where I thought we were more than good enough to win the game. There was only the Middlesbrough game where I was disappointed.

“Something has to change in terms of how we create better opportunities or make the goalkeeper work a lot harder than we are doing, because we’re getting into some fantastic areas and not making enough of it.”