The pressure's on our rivals now, says Blackpool boss

Neil McDonald has a message to Blackpool's relegation rivals '“ catch us if you can.
Neil McDonaldNeil McDonald
Neil McDonald

After picking up seven points from nine, Pool have dragged themselves a point clear of the League One relegation zone.

Fleetwood and Oldham are just below them with two games in hand, but Blackpool’s manager says he’d much rather have the points of the board.

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McDonald said: “We have the points at the moment, so the pressure is on the rest of them to catch us.

“If we just keep on winning games and picking up points, then we’ll be fine.”

After appearing to have dragged themselves out of trouble, Fleetwood are right back in the mix after taking one point from four games.

Chesterfield and Shrewsbury also have work to do to escape, which delights McDonald.

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He added: “We have brought another couple of teams into the battle with our three good results.

“The question now is: can they deal with the pressure? That remains to be seen.

“We seem to be dealing with the pressure quite well at the moment but we aren’t over the finishing line yet. We are working hard to get to a total where we can’t be caught and we’ll keep on doing that.”

McDonald has had to adjust his style of management as the pressure has mounted on his players. And he believes a simpler approach has helped.

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He explained: “I’m trying to keep everyone calm at the moment and keep all the information I give to the players as basic as I can.

“Obviously we are working on getting the basics right first of all.

“The fewer mistakes we make will help us along the way. We need to keep it nice and simple.

“It’s about expressing ourselves when we do have the ball and being tough to beat when we don’t.”

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Pool look to extend their unbeaten run to four games when they welcome play-off chasers Southend to Bloomfield Road tomorrow.

And with second-bottom Colchester the visitors seven days later, McDonald feels his men are hitting form at the ideal time.

He said: “We were disappointed not to take the three points against Bury but to win two away games has been great.

“We are on a good little run at the moment and that must continue now.”