Michael Appleton offers positive outlook on Blackpool's defeat to Sheffield United as winless run continues

His side’s winless run stretched to eight games following a 2-1 reversal at home to the Blades in their final encounter of 2022.

Goals from Sander Berge and James McAtee handed the promotion-chasing visitors the three points in a game where their superior quality came to the fore.

The Seasiders showed no shortage of effort or endeavour but they largely huffed and puffed, although they did briefly rally when Marvin Ekpiteta pulled a goal back 10 minutes into the second-half.

“I think this is when you learn about people and clubs, your staff, players, fans etc, whether you’re capable of pulling together or not,” he said afterwards.

“I’ve seen enough tonight in terms of how we went about it to see we’ve got the spirit, because it’s definitely there in the dressing room and a togetherness that will serve us really, really well for the remainder of the season.

“The second goal made the game a hell of a lot more difficult for us. There was some questionable decision-making to say the least.

“I don’t know if that’s down to anxiety or pressure, but we’re aware it could have been prevented. I don’t need to tell certain individuals, they know that, but it certainly made it very, very difficult for us.”

The killer blow came at the start of the second-half when McAtee doubled Sheffield United’s lead with a goal on the counter attack.

It was a soft goal to concede from Blackpool’s point of view, with McAtee capitalising on a Sonny Carey slip to run from one end of the pitch to the other, while Dom Thompson opted not to charge over and close the man down.

“The goal is just a killer for us. It was a bit of naivety from us,” Appleton added.

“I know we’re a young group and we’ve touched on that so many times now. Experience in the window will hopefully do us good.

“As long as we can keep maintaining our good starts and try to find a way of getting the opener then it gives us a great chance of getting a win again.”