Michael Appleton addresses Blackpool's seven-game winless run ahead of Sheffield United clash

The Seasiders missed the chance to climb out of the bottom three on Monday, when they were leading 1-0 at half-time thanks to Sonny Carey’s emphatic strike.

But Michael Appleton’s men were reduced to 10 men at the start of the second-half when Jordan Thorniley was shown a straight red just eight minutes after coming on as a sub.

Despite the one-man disadvantage, Blackpool still had the better chances to snatch all three points during the final stages of the game before settling for a 1-1 draw.

Because of that, Appleton isn’t overly concerned about Blackpool’s winless run with the firm belief a victory is just around the corner.

“You wouldn’t have thought that (Blackpool were without a win in seven) having watching them play and that’s the big thing,” Pool’s head coach told The Gazette.

“The reality is you can go on winless runs, but for me the performances and reaction of the players is the big thing.

“Luckily from my point of view, we couldn’t have run any harder, worked any harder, defended any better at times apart from the goal than what we have done, certainly when we went down to 10 men.

“We don’t worry about that in terms of numbers, we just focus on the next game and we’ve got an opportunity against Sheffield United and Sunderland at home, in front of our fans, to have a right go at two teams who are in a good place at the minute.”