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Crystal Palace 0 Blackpool 1 - full match report
IT'S amazing the things you don't know about certain clubs.
Were you aware, for instance, that the colour of Crystal Palace's kit was chosen by a man with one leg?
Me neither.
For the benefit of the couple of readers still vaguely interested, he was a bloke called Edmund Goodman who was hired by Palace shortly after their formation in the early 1900s.
He'd been an amateur player at Aston Villa where he'd been forced to have his leg amputated after being kicked on the knee.
Goodman became the Eagles manager from 1907 to 1925, choosing claret and blue as the club's colour based on his Villa days – and possibly on the state of his leg after being kicked.
Claret was also the colour of Neil Warnock's face after this game, the Palace boss exasperated and furious at a memorable and rather epic win for the Seasiders that will live long in the memory.
First let me paint the picture.
Pool went into this game with morale low after a home trouncing by QPR in midweek, struggling to bring in new signings because of a lack of money, and with 16 fit professionals to choose from.
Then, 169 seconds after kick off, Paul Rachubka was red carded.
The Seasiders played the remaining 95 minutes (that's counting the four minutes of stoppage time in each half) with a man less.
And for eight minutes of that they were reduced to nine players while Ian Evatt had stitches on a facial wound in the dressing room.
And yet despite all this – and as unbelievable and as far-fetched as it sounds – Pool managed to depart Selhurst Park with the points, their first victory in these parts for 35 years.
Throw into the mixture an emotional late appearance from Brett Ormerod (his first time in a tangerine shirt since December 2001 and a draw at
Port Vale) and a heroic performance on his Seasiders league debut from reserve keeper Matt Gilks and by now you'll surely be beginning to understand why this was one of the most enjoyable and satisfying days in the club's recent history.
And how 10-man Pool deserved victory.
They were wonderfully organised by Steve Thompson and Tony Parkes (who acted swiftly and correctly in identifying the unfortunate Paul Marshall as the man to sacrifice in the early reshuffle) and turned in a brilliantly disciplined, committed and tigerish performance.
Perfect
Every man on the pitch played his part.
The back four were magnificent, Shaun Barker producing a heroic performance in the centre of defence while Danny Coid looked the classiest left back in the Championship slotting in with consummate ease.
DJ Campbell never stopped working up front, his pace and movement making him the perfect man to have in a team forced to play one up top.
Gary Taylor-Fletcher put in a breathtakingly energetic display that saw him play striker, right back and – most impressively – central midfielder. He was brilliant.
In the midst of all this, though, it would be remiss of me not to point out just how bad Crystal Palace were.
Even Warnock, a manager who usually moves about as if he's a giant puppet on strings being yanked viciously from above, stood motionless by the end, unable to do anything about his team's capitulation.
The home side's confidence disappeared before our watching eyes and the more the crowd jeered, the worse it got.
Palace are a club that has provided us with many an entertaining moment over the years (none more so than the quite wonderful notion of hiring Attilio Lombardo and Tomas Brolin as their managerial team in the late 90s - seven games, five defeats and several scathing reviews from Alan Hansen on Match of the Day later they were replaced).
But this was truly woeful and Warnock clearly has a job on his hands to sort things out.
That's not Pool's problem though. For all the upheaval caused by the departure of Simon Grayson, the exit of eight loan players, and the lack of funds to get replacements in, the Seasiders still possess team spirit and sheer desire to win games in abundance.
That's thanks to big characters in the dressing room like Barker, Evatt and Taylor-Fletcher and it is a vital, essential commodity to have at a club like Blackpool that is punching above its weight every week.
The 679 visiting supporters left ecstatic and that is not a sentence I expected to be writing at 3.03pm on Saturday while witnessing Rachubka trudge from the pitch.
Premier League ref Andre Marriner had been left with little choice but to dismiss the keeper after Evatt's underhit backpass forced Rachubka to race from his area to try and clear the ball. He was beaten to it, though, by Shefki Kuqi and took the man instead. End result: red card.
A rather startled Gilks frantically ripped off his tracksuit and came on. Manchester City reserve team captain Marshall was the unlucky man to make way – less than three minutes into his first ever game of first team football.
No wonder he looked gutted. It's a bit like being served a huge plate of your favourite food, then having it whipped away as you're about to tuck in.
Quite understandably, as they tried to reorganise, Pool endured a shaky 15 minutes and Gilks made two good saves, tipping Kuqi's header over the bar and making a brave, sprawling stop at the feet of the same player.
But gradually, as they formed two solid banks of four defenders and midfielders, with Campbell toiling as the lone man up front, the Seasiders got a foothold in the game.
Evatt headed David Fox's corner into the side netting on 39 minutes and moments later the visitors won a clear cut penalty.
Tripped
Roy O'Donovan had just squandered a glorious opportunity after being teed up by Taylor-Fletcher, but credit to the Irishman for winning back possession and darting into the area where he was tripped by John Oster.
Campbell tucked the penalty away in confident fashion, sending Julian Speroni the wrong way.
As you'd expect, all this was pretty galling for the home fans who, after the early sending off, had expected an easy victory.
But after the break it got even worse, for their side (even with Evatt off and Pool down to nine men for a lengthy period) did absolutely nothing of note -– bar from one shot when centre back Clint Hill fired over the bar with 15 minutes left.
Pool came closer to extending their lead than Palace did to equalising – Campbell latching onto Taylor-Fletcher's pass on the hour but shooting just wide.
To cap a near-perfect afternoon, Ormerod came on in the dying seconds to a standing ovation from the away fans. And the same supporters were back on their feet a couple of minutes later to applaud the whole team off.
And how they deserved the acclaim. A tremendous effort by all concerned and one of the most hard-earned victories you'll ever see from a Blackpool side.
Crisis? What crisis.
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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
