Worst time for Blackpool to be in their worst form says manager Terry McPhillips

But, while a new board has been put in place and Owen Oyston has been removed as a director, the team were unable to build on that positivity.

New executive director Ben Hatton saw them lose heavily to relegation-threatened Rovers, a defeat McPhillips described as his side’s worst of the season.

The Pool boss said: “The players came back from training on Friday and saw the queues going around the corner for tickets and there is a buzz around the town.

“That makes this defeat all the more disappointing.

“We couldn’t put a performance on for the supporters who came and I apologise to them. We’re going to have to do better.”

Bristol Rovers remain in the bottom four but have completed the double over Blackpool this season, scoring seven in the process while the Seasiders have failed to net a goal.

A week earlier Oxford United – another side in the relegation zone prior to meeting Pool – also completed a double with a 1-0 win at Bloomfield Road.

Pool have slipped to 10th in the League One table and McPhillips added: “We’ve lost two to Bristol Rovers and two to Oxford now, who are both down there scrapping.

“But they’re all hard games and we’ve got to do better against the lesser teams for sure.

“We need a win quickly now. No-one has a given right to win a game.

“Obviously we lost the last game against Oxford although I didn’t think we were that bad. We lost to a wonder strike.

“But we’re on a two-game losing run now and in football that happens, but we’ve certainly got to do better than we did at Bristol.”

Despite suffering back-to-back defeats, McPhillips remains confident his players can turn it around.

“They’re good lads, aren’t they? They’ve got where they’ve got to by sticking together,” he added.

“I’m not sure if we still have the record for the clean sheets but we’re normally a dependable group with a really good goalkeeper. Mark Howard made some really good saves.

“We’re normally better than that and I didn’t see it coming, so we’re going to have to do better.

“We still tried to score a goal, God love them, so they were honest enough, though maybe the damage was already done.

“I thought we played some stuff but it just wasn’t good enough.”