Blackpool captain targets another unbeaten run following consecutive losses

Blackpool captain Jay Spearing is taking confidence from their midweek display at Arsenal

Blackpool followed up their first league defeat to neighbours Fleetwood Town with a 2-1 Carabao Cup loss to Arsenal on Wednesday night.

However, Spearing sees no reason why those two defeats should stop them from going on another impressive unbeaten run.

“We dust ourselves down and we should come out of this with confidence,” the 29-year-old told The Gazette.

“I know we’ve been beaten but we’ve got plenty of confidence from this and we’re now all looking forward to Saturday.

“It’s a big game at home and we need to pick up as many points at home as we can and that’s exactly what we’ll be trying to do.”

Wednesday’s defeat at the Emirates saw Blackpool exit the Carabao Cup at the fourth round stage.

A quarter-final spot just eluded Terry McPhillips’ men but Spearing was proud of the players’ efforts.

He said: “We’ve had a great run, we’ve worked hard as hard as we can to get a fixture like this and we’ve come here, where a lot of lads haven’t been before, and they’ve loved every minute of it.

“We cracked on, got on with it and played some good stuff. We had some good chances and on a better day, maybe one of those go in – especially the one when I tackled Petr Cech.

“But we’ve come here, the lads are absolutely shattered from the performance they’ve put in but I’m proud of every single one of them.”

Both sides ended the game with 10 men, with Matteo Guendouzi being dismissed for two bookable offences while Paudie O’Connor saw red for a challenge on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

McPhillips believed O’Connor’s red was harsh, but Spearing says he must learn from it.

He added: “I think their red card was fair. He’s pulled him back, so for me I believe both were yellow cards and the referee has done well.

“With Paudie, I didn’t think he needed to go to ground to bring him down, he could have maybe pulled his shirt and took a yellow for the team.

“At that point in the game we were on top and we were causing problems for them. But it’s one of those things he’ll learn from, we’ll learn from and we’ll move on.”