Peterborough United v Blackpool: Live updates from the Seasiders' final game of the season

Sonny Carey has started brightly. No signs of ring rust on his first appearance since Boxing Day.

Chris Maxwell makes a smart save at his near post to deny Jack Taylor.

Posh get the game underway.

Up the mighty Pool!

Neil Critchley opts to make wholesale changes, seven in total, to the side that lost to Derby County last week in Blackpool’s final home outing of the campaign.

Jordan Thorniley and James Husband miss out through injury, while Kenny Dougall, Keshi Anderson, Charlie Kirk, Shayne Lavery and Gary Madine are left out altogether.

There is a first start for Sonny Carey since Boxing Day on the midfielder’s recovery from a fractured metatarsal.

Oliver Casey, Luke Garbutt, Kevin Stewart, Owen Dale, Jerry Yates and Jake Beesley also come into the side.

Jordan Gabriel, Dujon Sterling and Grant Ward all remain sidelined through injury, while the likes of Reece James, Ethan Robson, Matty Virtue and Josh Bowler haven’t travelled.

Dan Grimshaw and Marvin Ekpiteta, aside, the subs’ bench is made up of youngsters, including 30-goal striker Jake Daniels and Luke Mariette and Rob Apter, who are both recalled from their loans at Curzon Ashton and Chester.

Marvin Ekpiteta should come back into the side, probably in place of Jordan Thorniley who remains a fitness doubt having been subbed at half-time last week.

Luke Garbutt will also replace James Husband at left-back in a like-for-like replacement.

Further up the pitch, it’s a bit more difficult to predict what Neil Critchley will do.

If Josh Bowler is in contention, which is a big if, he will battle it out with CJ Hamilton and Owen Dale for the right wingers role.

Over on the left, you’d imagine Charlie Kirk will be given one final chance to show everyone what he can do before his loan deal ends.

In the centre, Critchley will pick two from Kenny Dougall, Kevin Stewart, Matty Virtue and Keshi Anderson. Sonny Carey could also could into the mix.

Up front, it’s the usual conundrum of picking between Shayne Lavery and Jerry Yates for one spot and Gary Madine and Jake Beesley in the other one.

Here’s how we think the Seasiders will line up.

“Blackpool are a hugely competitive side and you really have to perform well to get the result that you want, but we want to end the season on a high if we can in front of our own supporters,” Grant McCann said.

“The home form throughout the season hasn’t been good enough and we know that needs to improve moving forward.

“There may be a few younger players involved, certainly from the bench on Saturday, but they deserve their opportunity,”

“Every game is important,” Critchley said.

“There’s the old saying that you’re only ever as good as your last performance, so you don’t want your last performance not to be a great one because you’re waiting another two or three months before you get a chance to do something about it.

“You don’t want that horrible feeling at the end of the season. People have short memories and you only remember what happened last week and you forget what happened over the course of the season.

“I’ve got Derby in my memory from last week and I want us to respond and do something about that.

“I say to the players, we’re always playing for three things every week. One is the scoreline at the end of the game, which is the most important thing, but if we can’t we’re not going to be beat on will, desire and determination, we won’t ever lose on that. But we’re also playing for our supporters.

“A lot of our supporters will travel to Peterborough on Saturday, they’ll get up very early for a 12.30pm kick-off, so we’re playing for them, so we’ve certainly got something to play for.”