Terry McPhillips: Competition is 'immense' for Blackpool's return to action against AFC Wimbledon

Terry McPhillips says his squad is raring to go

Blackpool boss Terry McPhillips hopeful Jimmy Ryan will be back by Christmas

Blackpool had last weekend off after their fixture at Sunderland was postponed due to the Black Cats’ international call-ups.

While McPhillips admits he’d rather have played the game, he says the time off proved invaluable.

He said: “We’ve used the break to get some rest and recovery. It has been good to get them a couple of days off.

“We’ve since had a full week’s training and the lads look sharp. They look hungry and very competitive, so it’s an exciting time ahead now.

“It’s been brilliant having that time on the training ground. We’ve worked on certain stuff and we’ve had a lovely week with the weather, which means you can stay out for longer and do more.

“On Thursday we probably stayed out half an hour longer than planned just because we could. Why shouldn’t we? It was good.

“The lads are really on the front foot. They are raring to go and are looking forward to the game.

“The competition for places is immense.

“We didn’t want the game off. We’d rather play but it did give everyone the opportunity to have a couple of days away from the place and regenerate.

“I think the staff, as well as the players, have benefited from that. And as I say, the training this week has been superb, so hopefully we’ll reap those benefits on Saturday an on Tuesday (when Blackpool host Scunthorpe United).”

The Sunderland fixture isn’t Pool’s first to be rearranged this season – the trip to Gillingham was put back from October 2 to November 6 due to pitch issues at Priestfield.

It means the Seasiders, who slipped down to 14th after their weekend off, have two games in hand on a number of sides in and around them in the League One table.

McPhillips added: “We’d rather have six points on the board than the two games in hand but you just get given it, don’t you?

“The Gillingham and Sunderland games got called off and you can’t do anything about it.

“You just get on with it and play those games when we are told to. We just carry on, keep playing and do as well as we can.

“There are loads of games coming up, so I think the squad is going to be well used.

“We now just want to go on another run of winning games.”