Blackpool defender rues missing out on the play-offs

The Seasiders head to Barnsley this afternoon to play their penultimate game of the campaign with nothing to play for other than personal pride.

Terry McPhillips’ men head into their final two games of the season in ninth place, seven points adrift of the top six.

Nottingham says Blackpool have dropped costly points in recent weeks and have drawn far too many games, their record of 17 only bettered by Sunderland.

“It’s been good at times but obviously it could have been a little bit better,” the right-back said.

“I think we’ve got a very good squad, it’s been very competitive but I just feel as though some of the results have gone the other way for us.

“There’s loads of positives to take from the season but there’s also some improvements we need to make.

“We’ve possibly missed an opportunity to make the play-offs. If you look at the amount of draws we’ve had, if we had turned a few of those into wins and maybe even suffered a few losses by going for it we might have been better off for it in terms of points.

“There’s still positives to take from the season but we’ve just got to build on that.

“From pre-season, when we all got to know each other, we all knew what we were capable of and we all knew we could do good things.

“People from the outside might have looked at it and thought we weren’t going to challenge and might even get relegated, but we knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“It’s been a good season and we’ve got good players, so hopefully we can build on it.”

Blackpool will be aiming to continue their good record against the league’s top sides, having already avoided defeat against Luton Town, Portsmouth, Sunderland and Charlton Athletic away from home this season.

“We know how good we are and I honestly believe we should be up there,” Nottingham added.

“We’re a good side ourselves and we’ve got good players and we should be doing better than what we actually are.

“Barnsley will be tough because they’re a good team with good players, but we don’t fear anybody and we’ll go there in high spirits.

“I don’t think everyone will have the same opinion and will agree with me here, but I do think we’ve underachieved this season.

“We’ve got a good squad and it’s been very competitive all season, but we’ve lacked something in certain games and dropped points when we shouldn’t have. That’s killed us.

“But there are positives to take and keeping a lot of players together for next season will give us something to build on.”