As it happened: 10-man Blackpool salvage dramatic point against Huddersfield Town

And welcome to today’s live blog.

Well, this is quite the biggie, isn’t it? Blackpool take on their relegation rivals Huddersfield Town and it’s absolute must-win.

Follow our blog for build-up, team news, live match updates and post-match reaction.

It’s the start of a season-defining week according to Mick McCarthy.

There was no new manager bounce for the veteran boss on Saturday as the Seasiders suffered a 3-0 defeat away to high-flying Middlesbrough.

It means Blackpool remain rooted in 23rd place, three points adrift of safety albeit they do have two games in hand on Cardiff City.

Attention now swiftly turns to the first of two huge home games as relegation rivals Huddersfield Town travel to Bloomfield Road for the rearranged fixture.

Mark Fotheringham’s side sit one place above Blackpool in 22nd but still in the bottom three and two points adrift of safety.

Graham Scott is the man in the middle for tonight’s game. He’s taken charge of 14 games so far this season, dishing out 41 yellow cards and three reds.

This will be the first Blackpool game he’s officiated since the 1-0 win over Fleetwood Town in 2015.

The Seasiders have been given a boost with the news James Husband is fit and available after missing the weekend’s defeat to Middlesbrough with a hamstring strain.

Jordan Gabriel, Liam Bridcutt and Lewis Fiorini are all making good progress but it’s still too soon for them to feature.

Kevin Stewart, meanwhile, remains sidelined while Keshi Anderson is also out having suffered a thigh strain on his return to training last week.

As for Huddersfield, they’ll be without forward Duane Holmes who has a tight calf, while there are also doubts over Michal Helik and Florian Kamberi.

“The lads have been good. If after every defeat they had their heads down it would be a sad place! But we’ve had a good reaction and we’ve seen a response from them.

“Middlesbrough are an exceptional team, they’ve been on an incredible run and have got themselves to third in the league. It’s been remarkable.

“It was tough for us. I didn’t expect anything different from them. There were some good things, we had more than enough chances to score some goals for a start, but we gave some poor goals away.

“Is this week season defining? It could be. If we win both games and others lose it would give us momentum. If it goes the other way it’s going to be extremely difficult.

“Let’s go and play them and see, we’ll find out won’t we? It depends on results elsewhere but all we can do is concentrate on our own game and try to win it.

“If we can pick up points in our next two games it’s going to make a big difference, but we’ve got to concentrate on Huddersfield first.”

“Every game is a six-pointer now,” Terriers boss Mark Fotheringham said.

“There are 18 games to go and I believe that every single game is a cup final now until the end of the season. That’s the message we’re giving to the players.

“We’re all in the same boat, we’re all fighting for our lives down there and we’re really focused. We respect Blackpool, they have some really good players in their team and they have a very experienced manager in charge.

“We absolutely respect them but we’re going up there to win.”

James Husband is back in the frame after missing Saturday’s defeat to Middlesbrough with a hamstring strain, but Blackpool’s squad is otherwise expected to remain the same.

With that in mind, here’s how we think the Seasiders might line up against Huddersfield...

Mick McCarthy has freshened things up for tonight’s crucial clash against relegation rivals Huddersfield Town.

The veteran boss, taking charge of his first home game on his 64th birthday, makes four changes to the side that lost 3-0 at Middlesbrough at the weekend.

He also reverts to a back four having played 3-5-2 for his first two games as Blackpool boss.

Andy Lyons surprisingly drops down to the bench as James Husband returns to the starting XI, having missed the weekend trip to the Riverside with a hamstring strain.

Kenny Dougall and Sonny Carey come into the midfield as Charlie Patino and Josh Bowler both drop out.

Gary Madine also returns to the starting line-up in place of Shayne Lavery.

Jordan Thorniley and Dom Thompson are both left out of the squad, while Marvin Ekpiteta, Jordan Gabriel, Liam Bridcutt, Kevin Stewart, Lewis Fiorini and Keshi Anderson all remain sidelined by injury.

As for Huddersfield, who sit one place above Blackpool in 22nd, they make one change to the side that drew 1-1 with Neil Critchley’s QPR on Saturday.