'This will hurt for a while:' Blackpool defender makes promise for the future as he sets out the role he wants to play

The Seasiders missed out on a place in the top six following their 3-2 defeat to Reading at the Select Car Leasing Stadium. Results elsewhere had gone their way, following dropped points from both Barnsley and Lincoln City, but they were unable to capitalise on the situation and expand their recent four game winning run.

Pennington admits the feeling after the match will sting for a while, but is confident Blackpool can bounce back- and is keen to play his part after a strong first campaign individually in Tangerine.

"I’ll take responsibility, there’s a few leaders in the group and I’m happy to be one, driving that forward next season,” he said.

"We have to learn, we’ve got no choice. We need to come back fighting because that’s what we want as players. We’ve got to look at ourselves, there’s been games which we should've got more from, and that’s why we’ve fallen short. We can’t dwell too much on it now, but we will think about what we need to improve on.

"This will sting for a bit, and all we can do is move forward- football moves on pretty quickly. We want to show what we’re about. The dressing room is down, we’re gutted, this will hurt for a while. All we can do is look forward and go again next year. I’m positive that we’ll get better, we’ve shown the belief we’ve got, we’ve just not been consistent enough on the road.

"When we get in tough times, we need to remind ourselves of how it felt today, we need to show more the quality that we know is in the group. It’s up to everyone to get together to make that happen.”