Pressley’s must win message

One moment of quality in front of goal was all it took –Sylvan Ebanks-Blake showing a poacher’s instinct to score from barely a yard and hand the Spireites the points.

Had Fleetwood shown that kind of clinical touch, they might well have hauled themselves clear of the League One drop zone rather than slipping back into it.

Jamie Proctor missed from a similar distance with the scores level – the striker also having a goal chalked off for offside.

Declan McManus also let a good opportunity go to waste, the sub getting his head on the end of a delightful curled cross from Nick Haughton but unable to direct the ball under the bar.

Manager Pressley said: “It’s disappointing in the respect that I’ve told the players these are games we have to win.

“We have to win at home – this has to be a venue that teams come to and fear.

“We made a very positive start. In the opening 20 minutes of the game we applied ourselves really well

“After that we were a little bit passive. We never got in contact with them or showed the intensity of work I wanted to see.

“They had a period when they dominated the game, but the second half was complete domination (by us). We pushed them on to the back foot but we have to score.

“We have to score at home – about that there are no doubts. These are improvements we really have got to make.

“But on reflection, this is a game we shouldn’t have lost over the course of the 90 minutes.

“But it’s a game we have lost and that can’t happen again.”

Pressley believes Proctor should have done better with his first-half chance, having been set up by David Ball’s excellent work down the left.

“We had a really big chance with Procs,” added the Town boss. “Bally does really well and gets his shot away.

“The goalkeeper saves and it comes back to Procs. He’s on his left foot and he really must score but he doesn’t do so.

“We really have to make those moments count.”

Had they beaten the Spireites, Town would have put fresh air between themselves and the bottom four, while also consigning Blackpool back to the drop zone.

As it is, Fleetwood remain in serious trouble and Pressley wants to see consistency from his side.

He said: “As a team we’re trying to move forward and moving forward we have to bring a consistency. I’ve said it to the players.

“I’ve looked at the stats – we’ve only won back-to-back games once this season. That’s not good enough.

“This was an opportunity to change that, to get some momentum and get ourselves out of the bottom four, but we’ve passed up on that.

“Our mentality has to be that we can’t let these opportunities get away from us again.”