Blackpool missed the opportunity to move in to the League One play-offs after suffering defeat to Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium on Saturday.
Scott Smith's 26th effort was the only goal of the game as the Latics claimed a narrow win over the Seasiders. It was a game in which Blackpool had more shots, possession and passes but they just couldn't transfer that in to goals.
To make matters worse, Blackpool with a victory would have moved in to the play-off places had they won. Stevenage lost 1-0 to Leyton Orient at home, and so that presented an opportunity for the chasing pack to pounce. It would be Oxford United who would take full advantage of it by winning 2-0 at Port Vale. Goals from Ciaron Brown and Josh Murphy lifted the U's in to the top six in the final round of fixtures before the international break.
Lincoln City continued their long unbeaten run by inflicting a 5-0 defeat on Bristol Rovers and now the Imps have overtaken both Stevenage and Blackpool. Stevenage do have that game in hand and are in action against basement side Carlisle United this weekend and so you'd imagine Steve Evans' side on the balance of probability will reclaim their spot back at the weekend.
Blackpool have big games coming up when club football resumes with a difficult trip to Derby County on Good Friday. The rest of the running is favourable, playing against sides battling relegation such as Cambridge United, Carlisle and Fleetwood Town. The only other team in the top six that they face other than Derby is Barnsley, and so Blackpool must be aiming for maximum points in their final seven games.
Nothing has been decided yet and football is played on grass, not paper but Football WP have had a go at predicting how the automatic promotion, play-off and relegation battles go. They have various ways of deciding the outcome of matches, and now according to them they will tell you whether Blackpool have a chance of a play-off final at Wembley or not.
