Boss Bowyer wants Blackpool to put foot down and overtake

Don’t miss the latest football news and gossip from leagues in England, Scotland and Europe with footballwire.co.ukThe Seasiders are among the form teams, having won three of their last six games – their only loss coming away to leaders Blackburn Rovers.

It’s a spell that has seen then climb away from the bottom four – Pool are now just three points off the top half.

While manager Bowyer accepts their safety is yet to be confirmed, he insists his side are looking upwards ahead of their remaining nine games of the season.

“I don’t see four ‘Rs’ next to any of those teams in the bottom four,” he said.

“So there are plenty of points to play for but we keep looking up.

“We want to try to catch some of the teams that are above us. There are 27 points left to play for now, and we’ve got to try to get as many of those as we can and see what teams we can overtake.

“Under Simon Grayson, what was it? The perfect 10 (a reference to Pool’s surge to promotion in 2007).

“But no, it’s one game at a time for us and we never got carried away when we started the season so well.

“And when we had a blip we didn’t either.

“We just stay level and keep working very hard for the next game, preparing properly, respecting the opposition and having a right good go at them.”

Blackpool have lost just one of their last eight games – that slightly harsh 3-0 reversal at the hands of Bowyer’s former club Blackburn.

Since that defeat, Blackpool have picked up four points out of a possible six from last week’s two home games against Charlton Athletic and Southend United.

The 1-0 win against the Addicks was Pool’s first at home in over five months, having previously endured a 10-game winless run.

“The performance at Blackburn wasn’t bad,” Bowyer added.

“Like I said, a key decision – a handball – changes the course of the game but the performance was decent.

“The performance in the defeat at Oxford was good as well. But both times we have reacted well to those defeats.

“The boys have kept performing since the turn of the year and we did well again up against Southend.

“We tried to get the winner in the last minute, like we did against Charlton, and we had an opportunity to do that but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

“But to take four points out of six in our two home games, when you take the conditions into consideration, you’ve got to be grateful for that.

“We’ve now got to back that up again at Milton Keynes on Saturday.”