Blackpool boss Neil Critchley so sorry for opponents Wigan Athletic over 'shocking' fall

The Latics find themselves in the League One relegation zone following a dire run that has seen them lose five of their last six games.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for the club, who were enjoying an impressive run in the Championship last season before being plunged into administration.

This ultimately led to their relegation to the third tier and the Latics, who are still without an owner, were forced to sell the vast majority of their squad to make ends meet.

“It’s not been pleasant for them,” Critchley said ahead of tonight’s encounter.

“Paul Cook and the team last season were doing a fantastic job. They had an unbelievable second half to the season and were mid-table in the Championship.

“Then for that to happen completely out of the blue was really shocking, and you can only feel for the people at the club and the supporters especially.

“It’s not a nice situation for them to be in at all and you’d have to say they’re very unfortunate to be where they are and to even be in this division.

“You only have to look at the squad of players they had last season and how well they did. They were quite deservedly a Championship team.”

John

Sheridan’s side were without seven first-team players on Saturday as they went down to a 3-2 defeat at home to Northampton Town, a result that saw them drop into the bottom four.

Among those on the sidelines are former Seasiders Curtis Tilt and Viv Solomon-Otabor, although Tilt could return to the fold tonight after being rested at the weekend.

Solomon-Otabor, meanwhile, is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines with an ankle injury.

“They’re quite difficult to assess at the moment because they’re in a massive period of transition,” Critchley added.

“They brought in a lot of players recently but they’ve had some injuries, so they’re trying to find some consistency, both in terms of performance and their team selection.

“We’ll concentrate very much on ourselves and what we’re going to do, but they’ve still got some good players and a lot of their performances have actually been encouraging.

“They’re certainly not far away from getting some victories but hopefully that doesn’t start on Tuesday night.”

Blackpool’s EFL Trophy group decider at home to Leeds United Under-21s next week has been moved back a day to Wednesday (7pm).

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