Steve Bruce amazed by 'quite remarkable' Blackpool change in the last month

Since being appointed as Seasiders head coach back in September, the 64-year-old has had to contend with a number of injuries.

At one point, the experienced manager had up to 10 players unavailable for selection, which coincided in a major slump in form.

In more recent times there has been a major improvement, with a number of players coming back into contention.

Sonny Carey appeared off the bench over the Christmas period, before stepping up to the starting XI at the beginning of the month, while CJ Hamilton is just behind him and has been used as a substitute in Blackpool’s last two games.

Elsewhere, Elkan Baggott was also part of the Seasiders’ matchday squad in the recent 1-1 draw away to Wycombe Wanderers, as the Ipswich Town loanee looks to put his injury problems behind following two lengthy periods on the sidelines.

Further players aren’t too far behind the trio either, and have been able to do some work with the team at Squires Gate.

“Andy Lyons is making progress, he’s trained for the last couple of weeks,” Bruce said.

“(Jake) Beesley has been back for the last week. We have got everyone available in the squad, which is quite remarkable considering six weeks ago we had eight to 10 people missing.

“Everyone is available so let’s hope that continues.”

Lyons could be like a new signing for Blackpool this season, due to the length of his time on the sidelines.

The fullback, who made the move to Bloomfield Road back in 2023, suffered an ACL injury away to Leyton Orient back in February, with his surgery taking place a month later.

Discussing Lyons’ progress last week, Bruce stated: “We’ve got to try and find him a couple of games if we possibly can, but he has just had contact. We’ll give him a bit of time.”

As for Beesley, he had scored twice in 14 outings before suffering medial ligament damage in the EFL Trophy game against Liverpool U21s back in November.