McDonald rues '˜huge lost opportunity' for Blackpool

The 1-0 home defeat by Coventry was Pool’s fourth loss in five and keeps them in League One’s bottom four, still two points from safety.

Marc Antoine-Fortune slammed the only goal on 26 minutes but appeared to foul Pool keeper Colin Doyle and that left McDonald fuming.

The Pool manager said: “I thought it was a blatant foul on Doyle for their goal. We’ve seen it back and we’ve lost the game because of a decision from the referee.

“The ball went in the air, Colin tried to collect or punch and he’s been barged out of the way. These results seem to be going against us at the moment.”

Blackpool competed well enough against the play-off chasers but couldn’t find the quality to break through in a game of few chances.

Bright Osayi-Samuel had the ball in the net late on only for referee Mark Brown to spot a handball.

McDonald added: “It was another frustrating afternoon. There wasn’t much in the game. At this stage everyone is battling and scrapping for points. We just didn’t get that help off the officials.

“We just couldn’t break them down. We had a couple of opportunities to put the ball into the area but instead we had a go (at shooting) from difficult angles.”

It’s as you were in Pool’s battle against the drop – all the bottom seven lost except rock-bottom Colchester, who drew with Wigan.

McDonald added: “It’s a huge lost opportunity when you see the results around us. We had a couple of chances but it’s just not falling for us at the moment.”

Tomorrow’s trip to Oldham, who are a point behind Pool with two games in hand, is now even more vital as McDonald’s men seek to win around half of their remaining 10 games to survive.