Fleetwood’s relegation to League Two was confirmed despite their late 1-0 away victory against Leyton Orient.

Xavier Simons scored the only goal of the game three minutes into added time to secure victory for the visitors.

But Burton’s win at home to Reading sealed Fleetwood’s fate.

In a match of endeavour but lacking quality, Town almost took the lead early in the second half when a bullet header by Carl Johnston was punched clear by goalkeeper Sol Brynn from point-blank range.

The Orient keeper was soon extended again to keep out a Ryan Broom effort.

But Jay Lynch was the busier of the two keepers in the first half. He was fully extended when he tipped a 22-yard free-kick by Tom James over the bar and then pushing away a powerful drive by Ethan Galbraith.

Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu went on an enterprising run before his effort was collected by Brynn as Fleetwood pushed for a second-half winner.

It arrived when Simons collected a pass from Tommy Lonergan after Orient failed to clear their lines and neatly struck the ball past Brynn.

But it was not enough to take Fleetwood’s fight to the last weekend of the season.

Blackpool manager Neil Critchley insists the Seasiders are poised to capitalise on any League One slip-ups following a 1-0 win over their relegation-threatened local rivals Fleetwood.

The Seasiders snatched Fylde Coast derby bragging rights thanks to Jake Beesley’s first-half header at Bloomfield Road.

Jay Lynch kept Fleetwood in the game with his superb save from Shayne Lavery’s penalty in the 77th minute.

Victory marked Blackpool’s first win over the Cod Army since December 2020 as they closed the gap between themselves and the play-off spots to three points.

Critchley said: “It’s a big win for us for a lot of reasons. We know how much this fixture means to the fans.

“We knew [to reach the play-offs] that we would probably have to win all four of our remaining matches and that’s the first one out of the way.

“It’s out of our hands at the moment and our aim going into each game is to win and get three points. If we can do that then we can hopefully capitalise on any slip-ups from the teams above us.”

The Blackpool boss defended Lavery for his penalty miss and switched the focus to their next clash against Carlisle at the weekend.

“Look, everybody misses penalties,” he said. “Nobody misses them on purpose. Shayne, unfortunately, missed his. But thankfully it didn’t come back to cost us.

“Derbies are always intense, scrappy affairs. They’re nervy. We’re pleased to get the three points and we move onto Saturday now.

“All we can do is focus on ourselves.”

Fleetwood’s Tommy Lonergan thought he had found a crucial equaliser at the death but celebrations were cut short when his goal was ruled offside.

Manager Charlie Adam stood firm that his side will not give with Fleetwood six points off safety with just four games remaining.

He said: “It’s a disappointing result and we’re disappointed we’ve come away with nothing.

“We came here with a game plan and I thought we stuck to that very well. It’s a game that we came into thinking we could win.

“I’m proud of them, really proud of them. I’m proud that they have come here and shown some personality.

“I said to them before the game that we needed personality and bravery on the ball and they’ve shown that.

“They fought for this jersey, fought for this football club right until the very end and sadly it wasn’t to be tonight.

“It will be the same Saturday and it will be the same for the last four games, we won’t give in.

“We will be here until the end and we will keep fighting. There is absolutely no doubt about that.”

Blackpool secured bragging rights over relegation-threatened Fylde Coast neighbours Fleetwood with a 1-0 victory.

The Seasiders boosted their hopes of a play-off place thanks to Jake Beesley’s first-half effort and a missed Shayne Lavery penalty at Bloomfield Road.

Neil Critchley’s side are three points off the top six.

Beesley nodded home the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute as he got on the end of CJ Hamilton’s fine cross.

Jay Lynch denied the hosts two minutes later when he kept out George Byers’ stinging strike.

After the break, Byers squandered a great chance when he fired wide before Beesley also fluffed his lines.

Lavery, who was brought down inside the box, saw his 77th-minute penalty superbly saved by Lynch.

Charlie Adam’s side failed to take advantage to rescue a point in their survival fight as Fleetwood sit six points off safety with just four games left.

Fleetwood remain six points from safety after holding mid-table Bristol Rovers to a 0-0 draw at Highbury Stadium.

Danny Mayor should have put the hosts 1-0 up after Promise Omochere showed his strength to square to his midfield partner, who was denied by a desperate block from Luca Hoole.

With the best chance of the game, Antony Evans had a one-on-one opportunity to break the deadlock on the stroke of the break. The Gas midfielder could only hit straight at home goalkeeper Jay Lynch.

Scott Sinclair fired low three minutes into the second half, which was smartly stopped by Lynch as the away side pressed, while former Rovers man Ryan Broom acrobatically volleyed wide for Fleetwood.

Gavin Kilkenny rattled the woodwork on the hour when the ball fell kindly to the Bournemouth loanee from the edge of the box, with Jed Ward beaten all ends up.

Elkan Baggott scrambled a trickling effort off the line as Fleetwood dominated in second-half spells without breakthrough.

Rovers hit the post in the closing stages after a deflected Evans free-kick ricocheted wide.

Manager Steve Evans believes Stevenage’s 0-0 draw against 10-man Fleetwood was a ‘wasted opportunity’ in their push for a place in the League One play-offs.

Jamie Reid had the best chance of a quiet first half at the Lamex Stadium but he failed to test Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch.

Fleetwood’s Harrison Holgate was shown a red card for a second bookable offence after the break and Reid thought he had won it after finding the back of the net with nine minutes remaining.

However, he was judged to be offside and the visitors held on to secure a valuable point.

Evans said: “Of course it is a wasted opportunity.

“You have to give credit first and foremost to Charlie Adam, there has been big investment at the club but I have nothing but respect for that.

“They are one club who I hope come through this and stay up. I have a lot of respect for the people running the club up there and everyone else, including Charlie.

“Our players are sat with their heads down and it is probably a day where if you’re half-educated as a player, you don’t lift your head because you may just get a rattle.

“You better sit with your head down but only based on our performance, our performance levels were six-and-a-half out of 10s, that’s not enough to win a game.

“We’ll focus on ourselves, we were below par and if we are below par in the next three or four games we will be booking our holidays.”

Stevenage remain in sixth, just a point ahead of Oxford, while Fleetwood moved above Port Vale into 22nd.

Adam was pleased with a point after illness wreaked havoc on his pre-match preparation.

He said: “We had a bit of a sickness bug in the camp and we lost Ben Heneghan at about 11am this morning.

“We put Harrison in and unfortunately for him, it became a disappointing day with the red card.

“But he was ready, prepared and I think my lads put a great shift in.

“I think they could have had a red card but we just have to get on with it.

“We feel like we have been on the back of some decisions at the moment but that is the way football is.

“We’ll dust ourselves down, we’ll get on the bus and we’ll go again with back-to-back home games on Tuesday and Saturday and we’ll look forward to it.

“When you’re down where we are you have to see that side of the game, you have to be aggressive, you have to fight.

“You know what they are going to give, Stevenage have been really successful.”