Sponsored by
Blackpool 1 Forest 1 - full match report
IT was slightly startling to read the other day that a Chinese government study has located an extra 180 miles of the Great Wall of China.
Is it me or is that a bit odd? It's like suddenly discovering Torquay exists.
While delving further into the subject, it was disappointing to learn that contrary to popular belief the Great Wall of China isn't visible from space.
I had, like so many others I'd wager, grown up believing this to be a fact.
"Yes, it's the only man-made structure you can see from the moon," my mum would matter-of-factly state while peeling carrots at the kitchen sink.
It didn't occur to me that, as she worked in Morrisons, her aerospace engineering skills might be questionable.
The width of the Great Wall from the moon is apparently the same as that of a human hair viewed from two miles away.
For Neil Armstrong to have spotted it after jumping from Apollo 11, he would have required eyesight 17,000 times better than the average person's.
I mention this because it is mildly interesting and also to point out you shouldn't always believe what you are told.
Let me take you back to August, for instance.
Ladbrokes, William Hill, Betfair and any other bookmaker you care to mention had Blackpool marked as overwhelming favourites to go down.
That had been the case in the Seasiders' first Championship season as well.
But what the bookies have twice failed to understand is that those at Blackpool, perhaps because it is universally referred to/derided as a 'little club', possess a steely determination to get results consistently and stick two fingers up to the doubters.
In front of a near sell-out crowd at Bloomfield Road – a ground that will hopefully, though we won't believe it till we see it, look a whole lot more impressive next season (three stands! What a treat!) – Pool confirmed their survival by holding a Nottingham Forest side that arguably had even more to play for than the home side.
It wasn't all straightforward, of course – this being Blackpool it rarely is.
They went behind in the early stages, and even after equalising they contrived to make it difficult for themselves by having a man sent off.
As it turned out, Ian Evatt's decision to haul down Forest forward Joe Garner and take one for the team proved an inspired piece of thinking.
It almost certainly prevented the visitors retaking the lead and paid off as Pool held out to secure the draw required.
The game had a real end-of-season feel to it, not helped by the worst pitch I can recall. If the grass had been any longer we wouldn't have been able to see Wade Small.
Both sides huffed and puffed but always looked slightly anxious as if they knew what was at stake. In the end a draw suited both parties, especially Pool.
The home side were attired in a smart new kit. It had been hushed up all week by the club, causing much excitement – perhaps some daring new look involving hotpants and Lycra.
In the end it looked to me a lot like the last one – tangerine but with a slightly different design around the neck.
Brett Ormerod got the chance to wear it from the start, surprisingly given the nod ahead of Ben Burgess and the previous week's hero Lee Hughes.
It was the only change from Charlton and it eventually paid dividends, though not without an early scare.
Forest took the lead nine minutes in, ironic really because their goal arrived after Pool's best start to a match for months.
Charlie Adam had almost created a tap-in for DJ Campbell, and David Vaughan and Stephen Crainey had tested keeper Paul Smith with long-distance shots before Billy Davies' side struck.
Left-back Joel Lynch delivered a lovely pinpoint cross and Dexter Blackstock, on loan from QPR, converted a close-range volley. Pool were rocked but not for long.
On 29 minutes, Adam cleared inside his own area and Campbell fed Vaughan.
The winger threaded a beautifully-weighted pass into the path of Ormerod and, despite a heavy first touch (easily done on this quagmire of a pitch), the striker hit the target with a low, angled drive from 18 yards.
What a fairytale for Ormerod – his second goal since his return to the club and, like the first against Norwich, scored in a big game.
Paul Dickov, sitting in the directors' box, jumped up to celebrate the strike.
If he had chosen the Seasiders over Leicester, as he probably wishes he had, Dickov could have been celebrating on the pitch.
There were a few half-chances as the game progressed and it was all going to plan.
Until, that is, the moment Forest striker Garner broke clear of the Seasiders' back four in the 67th minute.
Evatt pulled him down and immediately, and rightly, received a straight red card from ref Jonathan Moss.
Thompson, earning his wages in the absence of Tony Parkes, replaced Wade Small with Danny Coid.
Alex Baptiste moved to centre-back, Coid to right-back and Ormerod to the right wing.
It left Campbell on his own up front but, realising the importance of the situation, he unselfishly got through the work of two men.
As you'd expect with a player less, some hairy moments followed.
Paul Rachubka twice made fine stops, clawing away Chris Cohen's free-kick immediately after Evatt's dismissal and later blocking James Perch's close-range effort.
Pool had the odd chance themselves, though. Ormerod linked up with Campbell and shot narrowly wide, and Stephen Crainey almost scored with a free kick.
A draw was the fair result and all that Pool desired.
The fans stayed off the pitch and the players, after a couple of quick swigs of lager in the dressing room, came back out to do a lap and soak up the applause.
Claus Jorgensen celebrated by pulling down Adam's shorts. Football humour, you can't beat it.
But it was all good fun and the acclaim the players received was richly deserved. They have been excellent once again this season and thoroughly deserved to stay up.
Smallest club in the division Blackpool may be (and like it or not, they probably are) but you can't put a price on team spirit and workrate.
It's why ex-Premier Leaguers Charlton and Southampton will be in League One next season and why little old Blackpool will once again be mixing it with the bigger boys of English football. Long may it continue.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Blackpool
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 32 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 28 mph
Wind direction: North west
