THE seaside should always be a place to have fun.

But on Saturday we had very little in the way of fun as our stop-start season again stuttered on one of the worst football pitches I have ever seen.

I know it would be a bit glib to blame the pitch when we were beaten by a wonder strike but I have seen far better council-owned pitches across East Lancashire than the one at Bloomfield Road.

It was, predictably, a game of two halves with the first half one in which we carved out a couple of decent chances on the cabbage patch followed by a second half in which we created very little.

Junior Stanislas smashed an effort off the post and Ross Wallace forced a decent save from Matthew Gilks in a pretty even opening 45 minutes but that was about as good as it got all afternoon.

Ludovic Sylvestre’s strike just before the hour mark was a worthy winner of any game but Burnley boss Sean Dyche will be disappointed that we again failed to turn our chances into goals, something which is becoming a bit of a habit that we can’t seem to shake.

It is one step forward, one step back at the minute and I’m not sure what the answer is.

We’re not in the worst spell of form (despite the way the figures are being spun by some of those with a different agenda) but we still aren’t putting together any consistency.

We have a squad which is more capable of competing at the other end of the table but there is something not quite clicking on a regular basis.

I am sure Dyche and his backroom team are searching high and low for the solution whether that is finding the right formula with the players we have or starting afresh in the summer.

There are quite a lot of lads out of contract at the end of the season and while there are a few I’d like to see pen new deals – chief among them keeper Lee Grant – I think a clean break from some will suit both parties.

As much as I like Chris McCann, he does get a rough ride from some sections of the Turf Moor faithful and you do wonder if he'll ever reach the form of years gone by given every misplaced pass is seized upon.

For me, the decision of whether to give him a new deal – and whether he will sign it – is the biggest one to be made.

Leeds United are next up tomorrow night and with new boss Brian McDermott getting off to a winning start in the Yorkshire derby on Saturday lunchtime, we're in for a tough game.

But it would be typical of us to travel over the Pennines and snatch something – such is the craziness of both the Championship and our form this term.

With very little to play for at this stage of the season, it’s a big challenge for players at mid-table clubs to stay focused but you can bet your last dollar that Dyche won’t be allowing our lads minds wander to the summer holidays.

Everyone wants to build on last year’s finish and if we can then we can go into the summer on a bit of a bounce and with some momentum then we can come back stronger next season.