Steven Schumacher admits his side must bounce back at Wigan Athletic after letting more points slip against another North-West rival, writes Pete Oliver.
A 2-1 loss at Blackpool – a ground where Wanderers still haven’t won since 1977 – means the Whites slipped a place in the League One table to eighth.
Schumacher’s men remain just two points away from the top six but with just eight games to go must respond to a third successive defeat.
“It's a game that, again, we found a way to lose somehow,” said Wanderers’ head coach after his side was unable to build on Aaron Collins’ 17th goal of the season when he levelled the scores just before the break with the Whites well on top.
“I keep saying the same stuff, a lot of the things we've seen were positive, were good. To come here and dominate the game the way we did and to have as many opportunities and shots on their goal.
“I lost count the amount of times we got in the final third, lost count amount of crosses we put in the box, but we just lack a little bit of a clinical edge at the moment and we're getting punished for any little mistakes that we make.
“I know we made a lot about this being a derby game and all of that and what you need to win derby games and I thought we did that. We didn't get out-battled, we didn't look as though they were up for it more than us. We've just come on the wrong side of the result which, in my opinion, is a little bit unfair on us.”
A goal from Niall Innis after an hour therefore proved enough for Blackpool to enhance their own growing top-six hopes and leave Wanderers – who couldn’t turn late pressure into a second equaliser - with ground to make up.
The next opportunity to do that comes at Wigan next Tuesday night when a first win over the Latics in a decade could breathe new life into Wanderers’ play-off challenge after their recent pointless run.
“From looking before Bristol Rovers, if we win those two games (before the international break) we said were in the automatic mix,” added Schumacher, who is set to be without midfielder Aaron Morley at Wigan following a late red card at Bloomfield Road.
“It shows what football's like. We've lost three games on the spin somehow and now we've got it all to do to get into the play-offs. But that's how it is, that's football. It can frustrate you at times, but I keep saying to the players, and I'm not going to change now, keep believing, keep playing with confidence because if we perform to the level that we did, we'll get the results.
“The best way to get over a derby defeat is to have one straight away next. It's a massive game. It would have been a massive game if we'd won this game. We'd have been saying the same things to the lads; make sure you recover and get ready to go again.
“It's a huge night for us (on Tuesday) and if we have aspirations to get into the play-offs, then it's a game we have to win. We can't hide from that. We need to go there and be positive and be more clinical. There's a lot of good things going on, but the small details cost us.”
Watch the full post-match interview with the Whites’ head coach on Wanderers TV