Harry's happy to be back in a Blackpool shirt

Prior to his appearance in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to West Brom U21s, Pritchard had missed Blackpool’s last four games after suffering a back spasm.

But the midfielder got just over 70 minutes of action on his return, which Pritchard was delighted with.

“It’s good to be back on the pitch,” he said. “I had about three weeks off with injury, I was back last week but it’s good to be back out there.

“I’m not far away (from full fitness). I think the plan was always to play 60 or 70 minutes because it was the first game back after three weeks out.

“I thought I felt good and hopefully I can get some more minutes in the bank over the next few weeks.”

Pritchard picked up the injury in Blackpool’s 1-0 win at Plymouth Argyle last month.

The midfielder had been in impressive form, helping set up Mark Cullen’s match-winning goal.

But he was forced to be brought off in first-half injury-time, where he was replaced by John O’Sullivan.

“I thought the first half an hour at Plymouth I was playing really well and it was probably one of my better games,” Pritchard added.

“To pick up the injury was a bit gutting, but these things happen in football. I’m just thankful it wasn’t a long-term injury.”

Pritchard was played in a central midfield role as Pool went down to their first defeat since the second weekend of the season, the 2-1 reversal to Portsmouth.

He added: “I played in a different position to what I’ve been previously playing. Obviously it was more of a central role in the middle of the park with John (O’Sullivan).

“I found that I worked hard and I thought we controlled the game quite well in the first half, but they got a decent goal to win the game. But I don’t think there was much to separate the two sides.

“Christoffer (Mafoumbi) made two or three really good saves. We obviously hit the bar and had a few chances, so 2-1 was probably quite a low-scoring game.”