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Blackpool 2 Fulham 2 - full match report
LET'S begin by returning to 2006.
Blackpool kicked off their League One campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Brentford (Adrian Forbes' debut – a momentous day, surely you must remember it?), followed by home defeats against Nottingham Forest and Rotherham.
One more loss and it would have been the worst start to a season since 1898.
There were grumbles and gripes among the 4,000 or so home fans still bothering to turn up for games, at a stadium which consisted of an empty open space behind the south goal and had a stand on the east side which was an unroofed embarrassment.
Quite amazing, then, that just four short years later, those bad old days seem a lifetime ago.
What a moment it was on Saturday to see the Tangerines trot out in front of 15,000 supporters at a sparkling four-sided Bloomfield Road for a Premier League game.
I spoke before kick-off to grown men who were filling up as they took in the enormity and significance of the occasion.
"I started supporting this lot in 1979," said one bloke, tattoo on his arm and a tear in his eye.
"I can't believe this day has come. Who'd have thought it? Right, I'm off for a Stella."
This, the first top-flight match on the Fylde since Jimmy Armfield's last game in May 1971, was final confirmation that Blackpool have reawakened from the coma of the last 40 years and are back in the big time.
As if to prove the Seasiders really are again a force, the England manager himself was seated in the director's box.
Granted Fabio Capello had probably come to watch Bobby Zamora rather than Gary Taylor-Fletcher but who cares?
Capello, incidentally, is a fine art enthusiast and has a collection of paintings worth an estimated 17m – almost as much as the FA are paying him over the next 12 months.
Mind you, the bloke earns his corn. He started his day at Blackburn, zoomed to Blackpool and then headed straight to Manchester United.
That's not easy, especially when you're stuck in traffic on the M62 unable to do anything except sit and quaff cold chardonnay in the back of a chauffer-driven limousine. Nightmare.
While unlikely to pick any Seaside stars in his England squad anytime soon, Capello must surely have been impressed at what he witnessed (even though he departed around the hour mark and missed Pool's goals).
For the Tangerines produced some mighty fine football – even hard-to-please Alan Hansen said so – proving they had shrugged off the psychological trauma of the previous week's travails at Arsenal.
It was a performance which suggested that far from being the Premier League misfits every critic in the country is making them out to be, Ian Holloway's side do have a chance of staying up after all.
Fulham are one of the better sides in the division, not the type of team that Pool should really be thinking of beating.
So how encouraging that they more than matched their visitors, and Mark Hughes could have had few complaints had the Seasiders held on three minutes longer and claimed the points.
I think Blackpool will be a tough nut to crack at Bloomfield Road.
Away they may well struggle. The Wigan game, however brilliant, will be a rarity. On the road they'll probably do well to pick up more than ten points.
But on home turf I fancy they will shock many a team, particularly those in the bottom half of the division, and that's where survival can be won.
On Saturday there were many who caught the eye.
The defending of Alex Baptiste, in particular, was top-notch, while Elliot Grandin looked the classiest player on show.
He still needs to prove he has a final product and must be more decisive when going forward, but the lad has superb quality and a wonderful touch on the ball.
If he is coached and developed in the correct way, time may well prove that Holloway has unearthed one of the stars of the season.
Then there's Luke Varney. Only Holloway could pluck a player from a Championship reserve side and turn him into a Premier League star within 24 hours.
By rights Varney should have been sweating about whether he'd make the bench for the Rams home game with QPR at the weekend.
Instead, signed by Pool on a season-long loan. He was starting his first ever game in the top flight and marked it by scoring a delightful goal, as well as forcing the error which led to the Seasiders' opener.
He also had several other efforts, none better than the fourth-minute wallop which Fulham keeper David Stockdale did well to beat away.
That happened during a rip-roaring start, when Holloway's men threatened to run rampage.
They were denied a goal when Brett Ormerod's header was chalked out for offside. Correct decision but a crying shame for the move involving David Vaughan, Stephen Crainey and Charlie Adam had been a work of art as good as any Capello owns.
Fulham weathered the early storm well, though, settled and took the lead ten minutes before the break, when Zamora headed in Moussa Dembele's inviting centre.
Ian Evatt fumed about what he saw as a foul in the build- up, though replays were inconclusive.
At half-time, another reminder we were in the Premier League.
Miss Blackpool emerged to conduct the draw in front of the West stand (it was at this point I felt a pang of regret that the press box had been moved to the east side…), while some fans had a race in a couple of giant inflatable balls.
Sprinkler heads, operated by remote control, emerged from the playing surface to fire water on a pitch that had this strange green stuff on it.
And all this while a big screen in the corner played goals from previous matches.
My God, this isn't the Blackpool I know and love. It's like a proper club now ... weird.
Just when the second half appeared to be a stalemate, the Seasider's perseverance and efforts paid off.
With 19 minutes remaining, Grandin fed Varney (in truth his pass was poor, slightly behind his colleague), but the striker's shot was comically turned into his own net by Fulham defender John Pantsil.
Tails up, Pool poured forward and Adam almost scored a blinder, Stockdale pulling off a fine save.
Then a truly terrific goal. A brilliant move the length of the pitch ended with Varney latching on to Ormerod's perfectly weighted throughball and dispatching it first time past Stockdale.
It was a great finish, Varney knowing exactly where the keeper and the target was without so much as a glance up.
Pandemonium inside Bloomfield Road. Pool were on course for victory in their first ever Premier League home game.
Alas the downside of the top flight is that the opposition has the quality to hurt you. Three minutes from time, the excellent Dembele threaded a pass outside Baptiste and Dickson Etuhu finished in style, lifting the ball over Gilks.
A historic day therefore ended on a slightly disappointing note. But don't say that to Ian Holloway for he'll quite rightly bite your head off.
There is nothing whatsoever to be disappointed about at the moment.
Blackpool are well and truly back, and what's more they're playing well, picking up points and already proving people wrong.
It's what they do best and long may it continue.
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Weather for Blackpool
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Temperature: 14 C to 20 C
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