FRUSTRATED Steve McMahon takes his schizophrenic Seasiders on the long trip to Plymouth this weekend after showing the best and worst in two home games.

A furious McMahon lambasted his side's defending after throwing away the Tuesday night's game against Rushden when three points looked to be there for the taking.

The midweek version of Blackpool FC looked a different side to the one which beat Hartlepool so comfortably just three days earlier.

The manager kept his players locked in the dressing room for a 20 minute ear-bashing after the end of the 3-2 defeat.

"You go 1-0 up after three minutes after a 4-0 home win on Saturday -- what more do you want for confidence? I found it very disappointing," said the furious Seasiders chief.

"We bombarded them for half an hour but they have won the game and we haven't got that mentality yet. I'm very disappointed in three or four of our players."

It all looked so promising when John Murphy put Blackpool ahead after three minutes, courtesy of a sloppy backpass by Paul Underwood.

Rushden worked hard and made life difficult for Blackpool and stopped the home side from playing their football, but created few opportunities. However, on the stroke of half time, a long range shot from Andy Burgess found the corner of the net to level the scores.

Pool barely had time to kick off and, seconds after the break, it got even worse when Rodney Jack sneaked in behind the Seasiders defence to put the visitors ahead.

Rushden could have added two more as the Blackpool defence went to sleep before Paul Kitson sneaked in between Chris Clarke and Phil Barnes to head home a third after an agricultural hoof forward from the Rushden defence.

Substitute Mike Sheron carved out a second for Murphy shortly after the hour mark but, despite some useful half chances -- most notably when Scott Taylor chose to shoot from a tight angle instead of crossing for Murphy to tap in -- the scoreline remained the same.

It represented a major come-down after Saturday's game against Hartlepool, which saw the Seasiders give what was probably their best performance of the season against a side who had made a promising start to life in division two.

It took barely four minutes for a sweeping move to put the Seasiders ahead. The outstanding Martin Bullock, playing on the left, cut inside and fed on-loan Blackburn man, Neil Danns, who found his Ewood Park colleague, Jonathan Douglas, bursting into the penalty area to score from close range.

Hartlepool were never in the game from that point on. Douglas, excellent again, set up a second with a chipped cross for Taylor at the far post, while the third was down to the brilliance of Danns, who set off on a mazy run through the visiting defence. His shot was parried by Jim Provett straight to Taylor who tapped in from close range.

The only down side to the first half was the loss of the injured Martin Bullock, a direct result of a desperate challenge by Michael Barron.

It was a busy day for both physios, with former Seasider, Paul Robinson, limping off early on his Bloomfield Road return and Douglas forced on to the sidelines late in the game.

BLACKPOOL fans are reminded to get their tickets early for the league cup third round tie with first division outfit, Crystal Palace, next Tuesday. Tickets for the clash are said to be selling well, with fans keen to see if Steve McMahon's side can gain revenge for their FA Cup defeat against the London side earlier in the season.

MCMAHON is still on the look-out for a defender, but admits that the search for a premiership loan-man has become frustrating.

His bid to sign a top-flight player on loan last week was scuppered at the last minute.

POOL fans will be checking their transistor radios on Saturday evening as their club's ball goes into the draw for the first round of this season's FA Cup. A total of 80 clubs will be in the draw -- ranging from the likes of glamour clubs

QPR and Sheffield Wednesday to non-league minnows such as Dunston Breweries and Lancaster City.

TICKETS are already on sale for Blackpool's big game at Hillsborough on November 1. Sheffield Wednesday have allocated almost 6,000 tickets to the Seasiders for a rare trip to one of the most famous stadiums in British football.

SEASIDERS striker, Richard Walker, has joined third division outfit Northampton Town on a one-month loan.

Walker started his Blackpool career with a loan spell in the 2001 promotion season, and joined permanently later that year.

He started his Bloomfield Road career promisingly and scored some useful goals as the Seasiders won the LDV vans trophy, but struggled to secure a first team place last season. He has been given the chance to join Colin Calderwood's big spending Cobblers temporarily after failing to make a start this term.