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Holloway delighted with Pool win
Blackpool boss Ian Holloway celebrated finally getting one over on Roy Keane at the third time of asking as the Ipswich manager bemoaned his shot-shy strikers.
Jason Euell netted the only goal of the game nine minutes after half-time to earn the Seasiders their third home win in succession.
Holloway had seen his side beaten twice at Ipswich earlier in the season, and he hailed the performance of keeper Matt Gilks on a pitch he dubbed "like an allotment".
"In the first half we were a little bit sloppy in one or two situations where perhaps we made the wrong choice," said Holloway. "Those chances can be vital on a pitch that doesn't help either team at the moment.
"Roy knows how to play against us and he's beaten us twice already this season so I threw a bit of a curve ball at them by not picking Ben Burgess and going for a bit more movement.
"I call their two central defenders the twin towers as you have to keep the ball away from them by getting out wide."
Holloway hailed the impact of skipper Euell, who went from a target for the Bloomfield Road boo boys to goal-scoring hero when he latched onto a long throw from Charlie Adam in the 54th minute.
"It's nice to have the fans cheering him," he added. "Scoring goals breeds confidence and now he's got one, lovely jubbly, I can pick him a bit more often.
"As for Charlie Adam, I've just had a go at him and said, 'Why didn't you tell us you had a long throw like that in you?'"
Keane was again left to rue his side's failure to put the ball in the net as Town slipped to within a point of the relegation zone.
"We had a number of chances in the game but it's getting like groundhog day," said the former Sunderland boss.
"If you don't take your chances, you get nothing. If you don't hit the target, you don't get much.
"I was disappointed with both ends in the second half. We gave a bad goal away and to miss the chances we had was criminal."
Euell tapped in at the far post after Gareth McAuley could only flick Adam's long throw into his path.
Ipswich created the better of the chances after that and twice came painfully close to a leveller only to find Gilks in fantastic form.
With a little over 10 minutes left, Northern Ireland international David Healy flicked a clever header that required Gilks to scramble back and turn it around the post.
And Ipswich came even closer in the dying seconds when the impressive Jaime Peters burst away down the wing and swung a cross in that teenager Connor Wickham headed against the bar. When Healy got to the rebound, Gilks scrambled the ball behind for a corner.
Keane added: "It was a great save but we don't want to be talking about opposition goalkeepers for the rest of the season."
FOR A FULL REPORT AND REACTION SEE MONDAY'S GAZETTE.
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Weather for Blackpool
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
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