A 78th minute strike from Greg Halford killed off any hope of the Seasiders picking up at least a point against Sheffield United as Simon Grayson's men went down 3-1 at Bloomfield Road.
A debut goal from Steve Kabba in the 74th minute looked to have given Blackpool a lifeline after goals from Stephen Quinn and Gary Speed had put the Blades 2-0 up, but Halford's strike four minutes later sealed the three points for the visitors.
In a game that the Seasiders were in no way outplayed, it was a case of taking chances and a controversial penalty decision that cost the side any chance of taking something from the game.
Simon Grayson was able to call upon fit again duo Steve Kabba and Shaun Barker for the game, with Kabba making his competitive debut for the Seasiders.
Despite the return of Shaun Barker, Rob Edwards kept the captain's armband for the match after impressing in the role against Norwich.
Inside three minutes Sheffield United could have taken the lead. A ball to the back-post by striker Billy Sharp was met by the head of Darius Henderson, forcing Paul Rachubka into pushing the ball away for a corner.
It was the Seasiders who dominated the early spells of possession, however, as the midfield looked to play the ball through to Steve Kabba running down the channels.
That method nearly paid off just inside nine minutes when Kabba managed to flick the ball over the head of Matt Kilgallon and force a fine stop from Paddy Kenny.
The Seasiders continued in the ascendancy with some neat intricate passing but just couldn't muster any real attempts on goal following Kabba's earlier effort.
The Blades then opened the scoring in the 21st minute after moving forward on the counter-attack. Billy Sharp picked up a deflected pass from Darius Henderson to square the ball left to allow STEPHEN QUINN to fire the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal.
BLACKPOOL 0 SHEFFIELD UNITED 1
The goal didn't really change the pattern of the game as Pool still continued to have more than the lion's share of the ball.
Adam Hammill looked to work his way to an equaliser when he skipped past the challenge of Gary Naysmith down the right but could only fire straight at Paddy Kenny. The on-loan Liverpool man tested Kenny again moments later but his 20-yard strike went straight into the hands of the Blades keeper once more.
The half continued in the same fashion, but without creating any real opportunities, the Seasiders went in at half-time 1-0 down.
HALF-TIME SCORE - BLACKPOOL 0 SHEFFIELD UNITED 1
There was no real change in the initial stages of the second-half as Sheffield United were the first to threaten the goal when Greg Halford forced another stop from Paul Rachubka.
The journalists in the press box were left in amazement on 55 when the referee awarded Sheffield United a penalty following a corner. Shaun Barker was adjudged to have been the culprit in dragging back Ugo Ehiogu but it seemed a bizarre decision. GARY SPEED stepped up to convert and give the Blades a two-goal cushion (57).
BLACKPOOL 0 SHEFFIELD UNITED 2
The second goal seemed to knock the Seasiders out of their stride a little as Stephen Quinn forced Paul Rachubka to tip his cross-shot over the bar.
The 64th minute saw Simon Grayson look to change things with Jermaine Wright leaving the field for David Vaughan. It meant that Vaughan would slot in the centre of midfield alongside Claus Jorgensen.
A sequence of play ended up paying off for the Seasiders as STEVE KABBA grabbed his first goal to bring the home side back into contention. A cross by Mo Camara was headed down to Kabba on the edge of the area and the on-loan Watford man rifled the ball into the top corner leaving Paddy Kenny stuck to the spot (74).
BLACKPOOL 1 SHEFFIELD UNITED 2
The goal gave the ground an added air of confidence as the noise decibels lifted from the crowd. Two minutes later it nearly paid off. A corner went straight across the goalmouth and a diving Ben Burgess saw his low header bounce back off the post. In between that time Billy Sharp saw an instant effort flash just over the bar.
Just as the tide looked to have turned a corner from Michael Tonge met GREG HALFORD at the back-post to score with the help of the crossbar on his right-foot (78).
BLACKPOOL 1 SHEFFIELD UNITED 3
Late substitute David Fox and Rob Edwards both came close to pulling a goal back before full-time while Matthew Spring forced a great stop from Paul Rachubka before the end.
Teams:
Blackpool: Rachubka, Barker, Evatt, Edwards, Camara (Coid 88), Taylor-Fletcher (Fox 90), Wright (Vaughan 64), Jorgensen, Hammill, Burgess, Kabba
Subs not used: Gilks, Rehman
Sheff Utd: Kenny, Halford (Spring 80), Naysmith, Ehiogu, Kilgallon, Jihai, Tonge, Speed, Stephen Quinn, Henderson, Sharp (Webber 80)
Subs: Cotterill, Hendrie, Geary
Attendance: 8611 (1712 visitors)
