Why Blackpool have arranged a friendly game to be played today

The likes of Marvin Ekpiteta, Tom Trybull, Rob Apter and Shayne Lavery are all expected to feature against an unnamed opponent.

Trybull, who hasn’t played since the start of February as a result of a hamstring injury, was a surprise inclusion on Blackpool’s substitute’s bench against Birmingham City on Saturday.

When asked if the midfielder’s return to the match day squad came earlier than expected, interim boss Stephen Dobbie said: “Yeah, but needs must when you’ve got Jerry (Yates) out and Keshi (Anderson) out.

“We would have liked Tom to get another week’s training and we thought the same with Marvin, but we took the medical advice that Tom could give us 15 minutes if needed.

“Obviously the way the subs happened, he didn’t get that but we’re having an in-house game on Monday to get him and Marvin up to speed.”

Ekpiteta, who like Trybull has also fallen foul of Blackpool’s hamstring curse, hasn’t played for the Seasiders since mid-January.

It was initially hoped the centre-back would be fit to return by the end of February but that never proved to be the case.

Elsewhere, Lavery is also closing in on a return to action, which comes at a fitting time given Dobbie currently has no available number nines at his disposal.

“Shayne has started training. He trained on Thursday and joined back in on Friday,” Dobbie said.

“We’re hoping he will get 20 or 30 minutes in the in-house game.”