'I thought we had a good relationship!': Wigan Athletic man Curtis Tilt opens up on being booed by Blackpool fans

The centre-back came back to haunt his former club as he headed home a late winner for the home side against the 10-men Seasiders.

But Tilt had received a frosty reception long before then, being booed by the away end every time he got on the ball.

"I thought it was aimed at James McClean to start with,” Tilt joked with our sister paper, Wigan Today.

"Then I realised it was me as well when I had the ball – I thought me and the Blackpool fans had a good relationship!

"Listen, I enjoyed my time there, they gave me my first pro contract at 24-25, and I've got nothing but appreciation for the club.

"I loved my time there, they gave me my big chance coming from non-league and I can't say a bad word against anyone there.

"It's just part of football, they didn't have much to cheer with the early red card until the goal, so booing me and Macca gave them something to do.”

Despite losing Marvin Ekpiteta to a red card after just 17 minutes, Blackpool responded well and took the lead through Gary Madine’s thunderbolt.

But Wigan turned it around with two goals in the second-half to condemn Michael Appleton’s side to their fourth straight defeat – eaning Pool will spend the World Cup break inside the Championship’s bottom three.

"We dug in and stuck to what we'd been doing on the training pitch, working the ball out wide when the opposition has 10 men,” Tilt added.

"I thought we were alright for the first 10 minutes, but the sending-off seemed to help them a lot more than us.

"We got through to half-time and there were a few strong truths said between the lads in there, I'm not going to lie, knowing how much was riding on this game.

"We said at half-time, being 1-0 down against 10 men, we had to take the game to them more, take a bit more onus on ourselves to keep the ball better.

"I felt like we played in the first half with pressure on us and we had to take that pressure away if we wanted to do anything.

"Second half we came out, took the game to them from the off, and managed to come out on top.

"For the goal, I saw a little gap as Tendayi (Darikwa) went to put the ball in, I gambled and delighted to get the touch and the goal.

"Some of the staff had been telling me in the week they fancied me for a goal and I thought it was sod's law it would come against my old club.”

Tilt left Bloomfield Road to join Rotherham United in 2020 after spending two-and-a-half years with the Seasiders.

The 31-year-old made 111 appearances in tangerine, scoring five times.

After three separate loan spells at the DW Stadium, the defender made the permanent move to Wigan in January of this year.