CITY 2 BLACKPOOL 1
This was my first home match this season due to holidays and I looked forward to seeing some of the new faces Pearson has introduced since we were lording it in League 1. I was aware that if City avoided defeat in this game it would mean a whole year at the Walkers without losing but I discounted this as a meaningful statistic in the club's history as we should never have been in League one in the first place.
Ironically the man at the helm when our ship sank, Ian Holloway, is now in charge at Bloomfield Road (if Blackpool still play there) and his team were today's visitors. The press made a bit of an issue about the sort of reception Ollie would get but in the event it turned out to be a….non-event! We had nothing for 15 minutes before Ollie decided to test the water by doing a bit of coaching from the touch-line. A small part of the crowd booed him but their efforts lacked conviction and after a quick chorus questioning his solo nocturnal habits they turned their attention to more important things – the action on the pitch.
The first half was a humdinger with both sides adopting an open attacking philosophy. Credit to Blackpool for turning up for a proper match and not for a master-class in defensive negativity. They came at us and we went at them – as it should be! We tended to make progress down the flanks leading to chances for N'Guessan and Howard with headers whereas 'Pool adopted a very direct approach going straight down the middle…..
We did not cope all that well with this, Brown constantly being beaten in the air and Hobbs finding life at this level more difficult than in the lower league. Although Brown consistently struggled with the height of the experienced Blackpool strikers he has exactly the sort of character that fans love – you knock him down 100 times and he gets up, looks you in the eye and says 'Bet you can't do that again.'
Pool nearly opened the scoring in spite of City having had more chances up to that point when Southern forced a fine save from Weale who pushed the shot against his left post and blocked the rebound shot for a corner. This spurred City to even greater efforts and a clever piece of play brought us the opening goal. Awarded a free kick just inside the Blackpool half Wellens took it quickly and found Fryatt in on goal. Matty held off the pursuing centre-back and slotted the ball past the advancing keeper, making it look very easy. Cue chants directed at Ollie asking him what the score was. This always makes me feel uneasy as invariably the opposition strike back when we do this.
And so it came to pass! Blackpool's direct approach was epitomised by their equaliser shortly after we had taken the lead. They won a scramble in the centre circle and the ball shot forwards for a second bout of scrambling which they again won. At this moment it ressembled the Hallaton- Medbourne bottle-kicking contest.
The ball continued to make its way towards our penalty area where a third scramble developed and again we lost. A quick one-two set their striker free but his control was such that he over-ran the ball. Brown came across like a Dervish and instead of calmly slotting the ball out for a corner he took a wild swipe at it, missed altogether and felled the advancing Weale to boot! I blame the crowd as they became frantic with anxiety as the ball advanced ever nearer to our goal and Brown succumbed to the prevailing mood. Anyway Charlie Adam was left with all the goal, three feet to go and nobody within yards of him. I can safely say that if he were still alive our Charlie Adam would have scored it whatever age he lived to!
Blow though it was City again took the game to the opposition and had the better of the closing minutes coming closest to scoring when Oakley's superb free kick struck the right-hand post before rebounding to safety. As it was by half time both sides had scored once, hit the post once and wasted several good chances each so to be on level terms at the interval was a fair outcome.
The second half continued from where the first half had left off in terms of style of play and it was obvious that Pool would fight to the end so there would be no easy pickings. In such circumstances it is often a mistake that decides the outcome and so it was on this occasion.
City made progress down the left and Dyer put in a cross which Eardley sliced horribly straight to Fryatt faced only with the keeper to beat but from an angle. Fryatt controlled the ball well, took it up to and round the keeper and slotted coolly into the far corner of the net. Cue more urging of Ollie to consult the score-board. Cue heightened anxiety for the guy behind me who stood to win £125 if the score stayed the same, Fryatt having scored the first goal as he had predicted.
Shortly after we had gone ahead for the second time Pearson made a tactical change that marks him out as our shrewdist manager since the blessed Martin. Realising that Blackpool attacked best by going straight at City he took off Dyer and brought on King as a holding midfielder, the first time I can remember any City team employing someone in this role at home.
This certainly reduced the potency of Pool's attacking menace directed mainly from centre-midfield by the exotically-named Emmanuel-Thomas. I spent some time pondering how a team like Blackpool who can't afford to pay Dudley more than half what we are paying him – to play in our Reserves! – could get a player like E-T. Answer – he is on loan from Arsenal!! Pity as I was going to suggest a swop.
For the last 15 minutes City closed the game out in a manner quite different from the pathetic attempts of previous seasons. Howard was subbed to tumulteous acclaim, even louder than that for Fryatt which I found interesting. N'Guessan played a full part in keeping the ball showing the value of signing big, strong players who are not so easily shoved off the ball. Four minutes of added time, one blow of the ref's whistle and three points in the bag.
The ref was a dead ringer for Monty Panesar and displayed similar quality making his decisions quickly, clearly and correctly. He was entirely justified in turning down at least three penalty appeals by City fans and on this form will soon be reffing in the Premiership.
For City Howard, Weale, Wellens and Fryatt took the eye particularly but for my money Bruno Berner was our Man-of-the-Match, good defensively and always looking to go forward. If you are wondering who played wide-left when Dyer was subbed the answer is nobody!! Berner was having such a good game that Pearson let him look after the entire wide left side of the field – which he did with aplomb. I have never seen a team play without a left side but we did – and it worked!
Bring on the Posh!
City: Weale, Neilson, Hobbs, Brown, Berner, N'Guessan (booked), Oakley, Wellens, Dyer (King 64), Howard (Waghorn), Fryatt (Gallagher)
Blackpool: Rachubka, Crainey (booked), Eardley, Evatt (booked), Edwards, Southern (Vaughan 87), Emmanuel-Thomas, Adam, Burgess, Ormerod (booked) (Bouazza 73), Euell (Clarke 73)
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation