'We should be beating Blackpool': Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray disappointed as play-off hopes take a hit

The Seasiders were the better side and had the more presentable chances against a Blackburn team who are in contention for the play-offs.

Eventually Neil Critchley’s side had to settle for a point thanks to Marvin Ekpiteta’s equaliser, which came after Sam Gallagher had given Rovers a first-half lead.

Nevertheless, Pool - who only have six games remaining this season - were much improved, showing far more intent and purpose and causing Mowbray’s side plenty of problems throughout.

“This is a crazy league,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.

"Middlesbrough getting beaten by Hull at home, QPR losing again, who can predict this league? We just have to dig in.

“We have games we can win, we’ve got a chance, but results like this are really disappointing.

“As the manager of Blackburn Rovers we should be beating Blackpool.

"With total respect they came out of League One and have done fantastically well. They’re a really hard-working, honest team who understand how they play, they are a handful to play against and huge credit to them.

“Every game in this league is difficult, we have to go to Peterborough on Friday and win and then come here against Stoke and win and if you get six points from the next two games then you’ll probably be in the top six going into the last three with everything to play for.

“Let’s not get too down about a draw at home when you would hoped to have won, there’s everything still to play for. There will be doom-mongers who will say it’s the end, but as you can see, everyone in the league is finding it difficult. We’ll keep going.”

Mowbray added: “I think we fell below our usual standards, the dressing room is disappointed.

“I’ve told them, our back three have been our best players this year, strong, powerful, resilient, but I thought (Gary) Madine gave them a tough day, stuff stayed around our box for too long, we didn’t win enough first contacts from basic play, wide free kicks, long throws, they didn’t get headed out of our box.

“We talked about that at half-time but then they scored a goal just after half time because the ball was bouncing around our six-yard box.

“I can’t sit here and complain, we’ll take the point and move on. We have five more games, every game is different.

“Blackpool are a team who’ve shown they give everything a tough game, they work really hard, are difficult to play against, and they have some athletic players and a centre forward who’s a handful for any defence.”