Maybe it was because Burnley were at the seaside that they turned in a performance that suggested they were already on the beach. Losing to Blackpool always hurts, but that goes double when the team doesn’t bother turning up.

The cliché regarding mid-table teams having nothing to play for was perpetuated by the Clarets’ lame second-half surrender, although it should be pointed out there is always something to play for, as evidenced by the large numbers of supporters who gave up their precious time and money to travel to Bloomfield Road.

Certainly they deserved better than a 35-yard free-kick being allowed to trundle through a crowd of defenders, David Edgar and Danny Lafferty failing to get in anything other than a token challenge on Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Lee Grant waving at Blackpool Tower and Kieran Trippier putting more passion into appealing for offside than making a simple interception or tracking his man.

“We have conceded some poor goals,” said a rueful Eddie Howe, “which was unlike us.” One can only assume the manager was attempting to put a brave face on things, either that or the view from the Turf Moor dugout has an incredibly restricted view.

The truth is that the defence has been wobbly all season: Burnley managed just two clean sheets between the start of August and the middle of December.

Left-back has been a season-long farce. Brian Easton looked lost, Ben Mee was forced to play out of position and Ross Wallace was deployed in a role he last played in another lifetime.

When a left-back eventually was brought in, he was deemed neither fit enough nor ready for the physicality of the Championship.

It’s at centre-half where Burnley have proved most vulnerable. Michael Duff has generally held things together since his return from injury, but is not getting any younger. Ben Mee has been hit and miss and David Edgar can appear solid at times, yet one feels he is never more than 10 minutes away from a costly error.

And then of course there was the Andre Amougou side-show – an immensely talented footballer, but with the concentration span of an amnesiac goldfish.

Whichever way you look at it, the defence requires a summer re-fit.