Blackpool secured bragging rights over relegation-threatened Fylde Coast neighbours Fleetwood with a 1-0 victory.

The Seasiders boosted their hopes of a play-off place thanks to Jake Beesley’s first-half effort and a missed Shayne Lavery penalty at Bloomfield Road.

Neil Critchley’s side are three points off the top six.

Beesley nodded home the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute as he got on the end of CJ Hamilton’s fine cross.

Jay Lynch denied the hosts two minutes later when he kept out George Byers’ stinging strike.

After the break, Byers squandered a great chance when he fired wide before Beesley also fluffed his lines.

Lavery, who was brought down inside the box, saw his 77th-minute penalty superbly saved by Lynch.

Charlie Adam’s side failed to take advantage to rescue a point in their survival fight as Fleetwood sit six points off safety with just four games left.

Bristol Rovers manager Matt Taylor questioned referee Gavin Ward as his Pirates lost at home for only the second time in Sky Bet League One this season.

Blackpool came out of the blocks quickest to score twice in the first 20 minutes at the Memorial Stadium en route to a 2-1 victory.

Kyle Joseph twice crossed low, initially for CJ Hamilton to shoot into the top corner of the Rovers net in the fifth minute before midfielder Karamoko Dembele then converted from another Joseph cross 14 minutes later.

Rovers responded through Chris Martin’s deft flick, following a long throw, and Taylor argued that his side should have had a free-kick at least – if not a penalty – when Aaron Collins was brought down with just a minute of the game left to play.

“It’s definitely a foul,” said Taylor. “You’ll probably freeze frame it to see if it was in the box or not but it was definitely a foul.

“Just like the handball in the wall in the first half was definitely that.

“The biggest one for me is their second goal. I need to get clarity from the officials for that in relation to what I need to instruct Connor Taylor to do in that situation.

“Jordan Rhodes is in an offside position and Taylor is stretching and back-pedalling. He heads it into a dangerous area and their player picks it up.

“One pass and it’s in the back of the net. Does he leave it? For me it’s still offside.”

Taylor added that he didn’t think referee Ward had controlled the game, with eight yellow cards handed out in the match, explaining that he would be unlikely to be asked by the media about the referee if the official had produced a good performance.

The former Exeter boss did hint after the game that striker Martin is set to extend his contract through to the end of the season.

Blackpool head coach Neil Critchley dismissed talk that his team might have conceded a late penalty when Collins was caught by two Seasiders defenders as he burst into the penalty area in stoppage time.

“It’s outside the box,” he said. “He falls in the box but it’s outside the box.

“It could have been given but we could have been given one against Nottingham Forest the other night.

“These things happen. I’ve got a list to go through of penalties that we should have had this season. But yes, maybe it was a free-kick.

“We’ve had to do it in a different way today. Certain aspects of our game away have been questioned this season. I think that answers some of them today.

“It wasn’t a pretty game of football but I thought we battled and competed and we had to against a really good team at home.”

Blackpool boss Neil Critchley said ‘belief in the group is showing’ after his team ended Portsmouth’s 27-match unbeaten record in Sky Bet League One with a 4-0 win at Fratton Park.

Former Pompey loanee Owen Dale, Jack Beesley, CJ Hamilton and Albie Morgan scored the goals as Pompey, who had midfielder Joe Morrell dismissed, were knocked off the top of the table by Bolton.

Critchley said: “It’s a big win for us, coming to the leaders and getting four goals.

“The team was selected to go at Portsmouth and get the win. Even after we went ahead, you could see Pompey’s quality in how they came back at us.

“We’ve got the second early in the second half, and then we’ve seen them go down to 10 and gone on to get two more.

“You could say things have gone slightly for us today, but we played bravely for the whole game.

“We had to defend the goal very well, which we did.

“The belief in the group is showing after a busy summer, and it’s showing on the training ground.”

The Seasiders took the lead in the ninth minute as Hamilton crossed for the unmarked Dale to find the net.

Pompey should have equalised on 23 minutes, but new signings Josh Martin could not beat goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw in a one-on-one situation.

Grimshaw then produced a stunning push out from Marvin Ekpiteta’s sliced attempted clearance a few minutes later.

Blackpool made it two 11 minutes into the second half as Karamoko Dembele’s shot was deflected in by Jake Beesley.

Things got worse for Pompey when skipper Morrell received a second yellow card and was sent off in the 64th minute.

Hamilton got a third 16 for the visitors minutes from time and substitute Morgan sealed the rout with three minutes remaining.

Pompey boss John Mousinho felt Morrell’s dismissal was a key moment in the game.

He said: “The result is obviously very disappointing, and I think there is loads to pick out of the game.

“You’ve probably got to look at it as two separate games really. What happened before the red card and after it.

“We responded well to going behind, and I said to the lads at half-time that we played pretty well.

“We created some chances that we didn’t put away, along with a couple of good saves from their goalkeeper, who we didn’t work enough.

“We were slow to get at it in the second half. Their second goal was deflected off of Beesley, who was blatantly offside, but the officials said he wasn’t interfering.

“I thought Joe’s sending off was correct. He needs to stay on his feet, and I’ve told him that.”