Michael Appleton pinpoints one player who has been a big miss for Blackpool

The striker serves the third and final game of his three-match suspension after being penalised for violent conduct during the recent game against Blackburn Rovers.

The apparent stamp on Lewis Travis wasn’t spotted by the officials at the time but the incident was caught on video and subsequently flagged to the FA.

The 32-year-old’s aerial presence and physicality was a big miss in midweek as the Seasiders slumped to a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Rotherham United.

With Millwall likely to adopt a similar approach of getting balls into the box on a fairly regular basis, Appleton knows how invaluable Madine would have been in both games.

“Definitely, there’s no getting away from it,” he told The Gazette.

“Gaz gives us that presence in both boxes that we haven’t had in the last couple of games.

“For whatever success you’re looking to get from Gaz in the opposition box, at the same time he does give you a presence in your own box when you’re defending set-plays.

“That’s been missed and it’s going to be missed on Saturday against a side that’s probably as big as any side in the league.

“For us to get anything out of the game, we have to do the basics right. One of those basics is to try and avoid conceding from a corner or a free-kick, which I must add we’ve been very good at so far this season. I think we’ve only conceded one in the nine games, so the lads have done quite well in that regard.”