Matt Pennington - who scored against Liverpool in a Merseyside derby - wants to create more special moments with Blackpool

Boss Neil Critchley steered the Seasiders to promotion via the play-offs in 2021 after prevailing at Wembley.

The Tangerines had beaten Oxford United 6-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals before clinching a place in the Championship at the expense of Lincoln City.

Pennington, 28, played 68 times in the second tier during loan spells with Leeds United, Ipswich Town and Hull City, and he's hopeful of returning to that level at the first time of asking with his new team-mates.

The centre back said: "The ambition is to win games, improve, and you can already see the manager getting his ideas across so we're all on the same page. That's important and hopefully it'll stand us in good stead for the season ahead.

"I hope [promotion can be achieved at the first attempt]. The manager has done it before so there's no reason why we can't replicate that. That's something we'll be looking to do again.

"I've played in League One for the last couple of years and it's always a tough division. There are a lot of big clubs knocking about, it's always tough, everybody is fighting for something, and it'll be the same again."

The former Everton defender, who put pen to paper on a two-year deal at Bloomfield Road with the option of a further 12 months, was once on the scoresheet for the Toffees in a Merseyside derby at Anfield.

On April Fool's Day in 2017 he cancelled out Sadio Mane's opener at the Kop End, which would prove to be the first and last Premier League goal of his career.

Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi went on to rain on his parade, but he still holds fond memories of that moment when firing the ball past Simon Mignolet in the 28th minute.

Now Pennington is determined to create more special moments with Blackpool. "It was an unbelievable feeling," he said. "I'd just come back from injury beforehand, I had been out for a few months, and that was my first game back.

"That single moment was unbelievable, to score for the club that I'd been at since being a young boy, at the Kop End in a Merseyside derby, was incredible. We ended up getting beat, so that feeling didn't last, but that moment of scoring was amazing."

He added: "It's not something that I think about too much now while I'm playing, but when I finish I'm sure I'll look back and think 'wow, that was pretty cool'. Hopefully I can get to those stages again and enjoy other special moments like that in Blackpool colours.

"It's something that I'd love to do [climb back up the pyramid]. I believe I can go to the next level again, it's something I want to do, and it's something I want to do with Blackpool as well."