As usual junior and myself made an early start to our trip up north on Wednesday. There was the threat of snow in Lancashire and so we "tooled up" with plenty of coats and jumpers in anticipation of another bracing night by the seaside.
I have relatives in Lytham St. Annes (posh part of Blackpool) and so it meant we could have a comfortable and relaxing rest after the journey.
I love away games at Blackpool; to me it's football in the true sense of the word and junior remarked on how much he enjoyed the atmosphere even though there was only 8500 in attendance and to stand at a game was a new thing for him.
Team line up
RDM went to his recent default setting of 4-5-1 with the usual suspects in situ and I think most of us felt comfortable with that set-up now that Bednar is back to his old self. Slory was on the bench which surprised me and I suspect surprised himself judging on what we saw later, but i'll come back to that.
No sign of Chris Wood again..........mmm, the boy is getting a raw deal at present methinks.
The First Half
A promising start by Albion who appear to have the measure of any attacking threat by Blackpool and certainly we were more in control than the same match two seasons ago with Tamas and Olsson looking dominant, although Jara's distribution was poor and three consecutive "glory balls" got cut out and put us under pressure. He also got caught out by a great diagonal ball in behind our defence which left Carson facing two of their forwards on his own, thankfully "Frank" pulled off a good block and danger was averted.
Jara worries me at fullback. In midfield he's faultless with his passing but his radar is off once he's put in defence.
Our midfield play was a delight. Brunt was on top form last night, not only working hard but also looking to break Bednar free with virtually every pass, his triangles with Cech, Dorrans and Koren were at times sublime and I thought we would be easy on to get the result.
One thing was a concern though. Although Mulumbu was putting in his usual selfless shift of hard work I'm afraid this couldn't be said of Mr Koren who was doing his "fairy on a bubble" impression last night! A lack of tracking back and the infuriating sight of a limp leg being waved at attacking opposition caused my blood to boil........apologies to those stood around me last night at this point - I'm not one who keeps quiet.
Koren's lack of a challenge and subsequent backing off the attacking player allowed Southern a shot from about 20 yards that flew past Carson. I'm usually quick to blame him even if my dinner turns up cold but without a better view from the stands I'll avoid the temptation to do so.
To Albion's credit they were straight up and at Blackpool and a superb piece of midfield play set Bednar free and he raced clear to finish with real class having rounded their keeper. Minutes later another raking crossfield pass set up JT for a super finish only for it to be ruled out for offside. I thought it was a harsh decision but again wasn't at the ideal angle to be definitive on the issue (note to myself.....when match reporting sort yourself out a better seat in future you old nob!)
Only a minute or two to wait before a super ball down the line was latched onto by Jara whose lovely weighted pass broke straight into the stride of Bednar who side-footed home. 2-1 and we're well worth it Blackpool are offering nothing.
Has anyone else noticed.............
Our man Jara looks just like the little midget who wore the white suit in the TV programme, Fantasy Island in the late 1970s..........."Boss, eeets de plane, eeets de plane" I can just hear him shouting to RDM !
Half time and it's a comfortable 2-1 to us and I prepare for the second half with a dreadful cup of coffee served by a Wayneta Slob lookalike.
Second half
Not a bad first ten minutes by Albion but Blackpool are now showing us less respect and have obviously had Holloway in their ear for fifteen minutes so the intensity increased. Koren was still waving the white flag as any opposition player approached yet still added the odd bit of moondust with a flash of skill or movement...........boy was he frustrating!
RDM then made the first of what I thought were three very poor substitutions.
Thomas had been a little quiet but had just had his best run of the night when he was "hooked" by our leader. On came Andy Slory for his debut..............mmm, Blackpool in mid-winter for a new winger playing his first game in England. Not a change I would have made and by all reports (although I again missed this!) Thomas wasn't in agreement either.
A free kick touched to Slory almost resulted in a fumbled goal and then a nicely worked move saw Slory fly clear of the defence but his composure let him down as he went for power when a little deft curler or a near post finish would clearly have been better options.
Slory seemed to lose confidence and then compounded his error by chasing all over the pitch in an effort to put things right but we seemed to lose shape.
Miller then came on for Bednar and Zuiverloon for Brunt. This was in my book a poor substitution as Blackpool were now coming on strong and Brunt's physical presence had been important. Miller was failing to hold the ball up like Bednar.............we were inviting Blackpool on and they then took over.
Their second goal was coming for a good while and after a few close calls another "surrender" by Koren on the edge of the box allowed Dobbie to advance and shoot low through a crowd with Carson blameless............at this point a defeat looked a distinct possibility.
Albion's resolve however is strong and Dorrans then worked a great ball through which Miller did well to get behind his man from and in my mind a penalty was the correct decision as he was brought crashing down.
Now folks....you know and I know and the keeper knows where Dozza is going to stick that ball but you try stopping it! He now has this down to a fine art........3-1 to a very lucky Albion based on second half performance.
A word now for our defence. Olsson, Tamas and Cech were immense in the latter part of the half throwing head and limb at anything in the danger area and by sheer willpower we hung on.
In conclusion
For our first half display we deserved the result however we could so easily have lost and in my opinion RDM would have had to have taken a large portion of blame for his poor substitutions.
Great credit to Blackpool for a gutsy and high intensity second half performance and to their fans who I rate as one of the best sets of supporters in the country. Great effort you lot, you create a super atmosphere.
Well done to Bednar and Brunt with good support from Olsson and Tamas. Well done also to the 1500 Baggies who suffered a cold and cruel night on those exposed terraces.
Onto Plymouth now on Saturday for what i expect to be a similar type of game and hopefully result.