Sponsored by
Charlton 2 Blackpool 2 - full match report
IT'S rather nice to report that Blackpool were involved in a match three games from the end of the season in which a team crashed out of the Championship – and it wasn't them.
Heartfelt sympathies to Charlton and their fans, but please, you people in the national media obsessed with the so-called big clubs, give the Seasiders a bit of credit for what they have, and are continuing, to achieve.
Every Sunday morning headline concerned the sad plight of the Addicks.
And while it is sad, not one of these stories mentioned the terrific achievements of the club from the seaside, punching above their weight for two years running now but still managing to land knockout blows on many of those around them.
OK, they're not quite safe yet but they are as near as dammit. The champagne is on ice.
As for this game at The Valley, regular Charlton watchers reckoned it summed up their side's season – play well, take the lead, stuff it up.
It also summed up the Seasiders' year – a never-say-die spirit among a group of players who never know when to roll over and die.
To recover from two goals down twice in the space of a week takes some doing. Yet this team did it.
It was an interesting weekend from beginning to end.
I drove up on the Friday and saw the comedian Russell Brand at the O2 Arena (tickets secured by someone who was in rehab with him – how rock n'roll); breakfast at Marylebone Station the following morning consisting of what I think was scrambled egg, though it was so hard my fork bounced off it (perhaps it had been prepared a couple of days prior in one of Gordon Ramsey's fast food outlets); and then arrival at Charlton Athletic's lovely Valley stadium.
Even taking into account the state of my egg, the latter was the saddest moment of the lot.
Why? Because Charlton is a terrific club, with the friendliest and most professional of employees, and an all round first class set-up.
And yet this is a club that has somehow sunk into the third tier.
Like Leeds, Leicester and Manchester City in recent times, the Addicks will next season ply their trade alongside the likes of Chesterfield, Stockport and Hartlepool – a bizarre proposition given that up until a few years ago Charlton were regularly given the once over by Mssrs Hansen and Lawrenson on Match of the Day and were the very model of how a club should be run.
Alas, like golfer Rory McIlroy's hair, they are now out of control, plummeting not just in terms of league standing but cash in the bank too. They are badly in debt and desperately seeking a buyer.
Indeed Charlton are a warning to others in football – the grass isn't always greener.
Not so long ago their fans were cheesed off with finishing in the top half of the Premier League every season. They grumbled about wanting more, which eventually caused long-term manager Alan Curbishley to trot off into the sunset (well, West Ham at any rate).
The club has had a nightmare ever since and perhaps those Blackpool fans unhappy with the Seasiders' Championship adventures thus far should bear that in mind.
In football these days, when the gap between the haves and the have nots is wider than ever, the trick for those less fortunate is to clamber their way up slowly .
The Seasiders have done that in recent years, moving from the depths of League One to the Championship.
OK so it may have been a bit of a struggle in the last 24 months, and not as much fun as those glorious days of the Perfect 10, but did anyone really expect anything different?
Blackpool will have a third season at this level and if they can keep slowly improving and nudging onward and upwards, that will do just nicely.
They will certainly enjoy a better standard of football than Charlton next season – and up until a few years ago that thought would have seemed utterly ridiculous.
Many Seasiders fans will probably recall January 2002 and an FA Cup tie at the Valley. John Hills scored with a pinpoint chip before the ref ruined things with an awful handball penalty decision.
At the time it was an exciting day out for Pool supporters, a rare chance to mix it with one of the big boys.
It was the same when Brett Ormerod left to join Southampton. It felt like he was going big time.
Look at Charlton and Southampton now. How times change.
On Saturday, in their penultimate away fixture of the season, Tony Parkes's men looked like they would be on the wrong end of a beating that would have meant an extremely tense 90 minutes against Nottingham Forest at Bloomfield Road on Saturday.
The game against Forest remains important but thanks to a last minute Lee Hughes leveller, some of the pressure has been lifted.
Parkes made three changes for the trip to face rock-bottom Charlton – Ben Burgess (for Hughes), Ian Evatt (instead of the injured Rob Edwards) and Wade Small (preferred to Roy O'Donovan) stepping in.
Burgess and Small didn't have their best games. Evatt fared better – but only because he had to.
Charlton played like a side who knew nothing other than a win would be enough to keep alive their faint hopes of remaining in the division. They were fearless and attacked at every opportunity.
They've been in good nick recently and, continuing to slowly recover from a horrid start to the campaign under Alan Pardew, are better than their league position suggests.
In the first half they had several decent opportunities but couldn't take any of the chances they created, though Paul Rachubka did have to make one fine save to deny Lloyd Sam, a lively winger who caused problems all afternoon.
Mazy
In an open and always entertaining contest, Pool had their moments too. Ian Evatt sent a header a foot wide and DJ Campbell clipped the bar with a left footed effort after a mazy run from the left wing.
So, scoreless at the break. But goals are like buses – none for 45 minutes and then two in the space of 180 seconds.
First Deon Burton rose above Alex Baptiste to head in (Baptiste claimed he was fouled), quickly followed by Jonjo Shelvey's emphatic finish from close range.
Shelvey is just 17 and definitely one to watch out for. He had a terrific game. Just a shame about his name. Jonjo. Sounds like he's come straight from the set of the Waltons.
Shell-shocked by this awful start to the second period, Pool took a long while to recover.
Brett Ormerod was rightly brought on to replace the below-par Small and out of the blue, the Seasiders earned a 67th minute lifeline. Charlton skipper Mark Hudson was drawn into a foul on Campbell thanks to the frontman's quick feet. Campbell himself scored from the spot – his eighth in 18 games, not bad going.
It lifted the visitors but despite their efforts, they didn't really create any real openings.
Parkes threw on Claus Jorgensen and then Hughes in a desperate bid to salvage a point – and amazingly the two did just that.
With two of the three minutes of stoppage time played, Jorgensen slipped a pass Hughes. The on-loan Oldham striker displayed the predatory instincts he undoubtedly has by lifting a curling shot beyond home keeper Rob Elliot and in off the bar.
A dramatic and unlikely ending, which sent Pool's followers into raptures and – given Forest's result – calms nerves heading into the final two games.
Returning to that equaliser for a moment though, we must mention the part played by Charlie Adam. The midfielder had a quiet game by his standards but, with time running out and inspiration required, he burst 20 yards forward and beat two men before poking the ball to Jorgensen.
It was a glorious piece of play which pulled Charlton's defence out of shape and created the space which Hughes eventually exploited.
Tears at the end for the home fans, only tears of joy for the Blackpool followers. They are once again in pole position to stay up.
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
