Pressure is not rising, says Blackpool boss

The Seasiders have slipped back into the League One relegation zone having lost their last three games.

Some supporters booed during Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Port Vale and Pool boss McDonald admits the pressure is mounting on everyone at the club.

But he didn’t seem too concerned when he said: “The pressure is the same as it was at the start of the season. We’ve been on worse runs.

“We aren’t where we want to be in the league but we have to deal with that. We’ll just continue to do the right things.

“We have a few home games now, so let’s try to win as many as we can.

“A couple of wins on the bounce would shoot us right up the league and everyone will feel much better.”

Three of Pool’s next four games are at home, starting with Scunthorpe United’s visit to Bloomfield Road on Saturday.

McDonald picked up his first win as Pool boss away to the Iron in September, and he believes that completing a double will boost everyone involved with the club

“Winning always relieves the pressure,” he said. “We’ve been on winning runs, losing runs and runs when we haven’t scored – but we’ve always responded.

“The harder we work the luckier we get, and we’ve always worked hard. We have to keep doing that.

“The players were disappointed with the result last weekend. We are always disappointed to lose games.”

McDonald was back at Bloomfield Road on Sunday to watch his old club Carlisle take on Yeovil in the FA Cup third round.

Pool allowed the Cumbrians to use their stadium after flooding forced their Brunton Park pitch to be relaid, with 3,357 fans making the trip to the Fylde coast for the 2-2 draw.

With all the weekend rain on the Fylde coast, concerns were raised that two games in 24 hours would take their toll on the Bloomfield Road pitch.

But McDonald insists it held up fine. “I thought the pitch has done really well,” he said.

“It’s a credit to Stan Raby, our groundsman.

“I was there watching my old club on Sunday. It was a chance to have a look at players.”