'We have to roll the dice': Why Blackpool boss Neil Critchley is still refusing to give up on the play-offs

The gap to the top six now stands at seven points following Wednesday night’s goalless draw against Sheffield United.

That gap will inevitably widen this weekend when a number of Blackpool’s play-off rivals are in action.

The Seasiders, however, can now look to rest ahead of a rare two-and-a-half week international break before taking on Nottingham Forest at the start of April.

Critchley concedes his side will have to go on an impressive late run to put themselves in the play-off picture, but while it’s still mathematically possible the Seasiders will give it everything they’ve got.

“We’ll have to go on a really good run, but there’s plenty of points to play for yet,” he told The Gazette.

“We’ve got nine games left to play, that’s 27 points so while we’re still there we will go for it.

“The first few games back after the break will obviously be really important but if we can get a couple of wins there and build some momentum, it will make the last few games interesting.

“That’s the aim, to try and keep going, keep rolling the dice to try and win games. If we do that, then who knows what might happen come the end of the season?”

Prior to Blackpool’s back-to-back home games before the break, Critchley stressed the importance of taking a positive haul of points to keep them in touch with the play-off spots.

Having claimed four points from Swansea City and Sheffield United, Pool’s head coach has been left satisfied by his side’s work.

“You look at Swansea, last season they were in the play-off final and Sheffield United have just come down from the Premier League and we’ve taken four points off them and deservedly so. It’s not by accident,” he added.

“We are where we are by merit. We’re nearly getting to that point of ‘how do we turn these draws into wins?’

“Sometimes it’s difficult straight after games because you want to reflect and evaluate the performance, but four points, we’ve only lost one in seven at home and that was Bournemouth, who we should have beaten, so we’re hard to play against here.”