Blackpool pitch makes us easy to play against claims assistant boss Tony Grant

The Seasiders head into their penultimate game of the season at Barnsley on Saturday in ninth place and seven points adrift of the play-offs.

Grant said: “Honestly I feel the away form has been very good. We went to Luton and I thought we deserved the point (from a 2-2 draw three weeks ago).

“We went to Scunthorpe last week and we battered them, so away from home we’ve been fine.

“The home form, well... I’ve played at every level and I was a footballer, so I know you cannot play football on that pitch.

“When you sit in the stands you don’t realise how bad the pitch is – it’s an away team’s pitch.

“Most away teams set up behind the ball and they’re hoping we play football, which we’re trying to do but it causes us so much trouble it’s so easy to play against.

“Against Fleetwood we changed it a little bit and we did try to turn the opposition because it’s a derby game and we didn’t want to give them an easy opportunity. In the end we’ve got our winning goal by turning the opposition and the fans are all happy.”

Grant believes that if the pitch is rectified during the off-season, as is planned by the interim board, there’s no reason why Blackpool can’t push for a play-off finish next term.

He added: “The pitch needs a serious look at for next season because there’s a football team in there who want to play football.

“If we can take the away form and put it here, I think it’s a minimum top-six team.

“I’m not easily blaming the pitch because I’ve played on a lot of bad pitches, but that pitch is set up for an away team, especially at the end of the season when it gets a bit crusty and hard.

“You see the green on TV and from the stand, but the reality as a footballer is that it bobbles.

“You could say we’re just looking for something to blame but the pitch needs to be blamed and rectified, simple as.

“I don’t know what they’ve done with it but it’s 10 times worse than the pitches I played on. I don’t want to make excuses but it just doesn’t sit right.

“At Scunthorpe we didn’t even need a team talk. I said to Terry, ‘Our lads will enjoy this’ because the pitch was lovely, the water was out and it was a footballer’s pitch.

“We had plenty of opportunities but we played really well. It would just be nice to have Scunthorpe’s pitch here at Bloomfield Road.”