Sponsored by
Ipswich 1 Blackpool 1 - full match report
ONE of my favourite Groucho Marx lines is: "I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."
A nine-hour round car trip to Suffolk on a day traditionally reserved for romance and love, to a venue where Blackpool have never won, is the very definition of not having a wonderful time.
However – excepting the portion of fish and chips at a service station on the M6, which appeared to have been cooked at some point in the late 80s and kept in an oven on a low-light ever since – it turned out to be a fairly pleasurable Valentine's Day after all.
Pool didn't quite manage to record a first ever victory at Portman Road but they did the next best thing and picked up a very handy point.
It improves their position in the table and lifts them a further point away from the relegation scrap – they're now eight clear of the stragglers.
It was also an improvement on last year's trip to Ipswich, memorable for the fact that Pool lost two defenders in the opening half hour and ended up with Keith Southern playing centre back. Needless to say, defeat followed.
A lot has happened at both clubs in the 12 month since. Ipswich are now floundering in mid-table, struggling for confidence and appear destined to give manager Jim Magilton the boot at some point in the near future.
Pool, meanwhile, have lost a manager of their own but have compensated for that by making tremendous strides on the south stand project: a wheelbarrow, a small rusting skip and some planks of wood are now on site – it should be ready any day.
More important, though, is the state of the team on the pitch and on that front the Seasiders continue to look in fairly rude health.
If we'd been talking three years ago to the day, for instance, about Blackpool beating Birmingham and Crystal Palace and drawing at Ipswich all in the space of a month you'd have been rushed to the Vic for a brain scan.
Three years ago to the day, in case you're wondering, a Blackpool team containing the likes of Jason Wilcox, Rory Prendergast, Matthew Blinkhorn and Danny Warrender lost 1-0 at home to Huddersfield in League One. Three days earlier they'd been thumped 3-0 at MK Dons.
The club has come a long way since.
At Ipswich, Pool produced exactly the kind of battling performance required, especially in a second half when the home team, under real pressure from their supporters to get a victory, cranked it up and threw men forward.
Pool stood firm, the new centre back pairing of Shaun Barker and Rob Edwards almost immaculate in their defending.
Everyone had a decent game, unsung heroes like David Fox producing a brilliant, instinctive late clearance off the line and Claus Jorgensen stepping in for his first start since November 16 and yet still summoning the energy to run from box to box like a madman in the final seconds.
Ipswich weren't great, it must be said, but it still needed guts and fight to earn a point and those were characteristics the Seasiders displayed in abundance.
Tony Parkes and Steve Thompson must have been delighted with the end result, especially as it justified some big selection calls, mainly the axing of Ian Evatt.
He was replaced by returning skipper Rob Edwards with Barker keeping his place in the centre and Alex Baptiste retaining the right back role.
Evatt will feel hard done to, and perhaps rightly so, but it proved the correct call. Barker and Baptiste excelled, the latter scoring his first Blackpool goal and only the seventh of his career.
For the last few weeks, Parkes has made various comments about how he sees Barker's best position as in the centre, while he's also publicly blamed Evatt for the odd mistake.
In other words this change was coming – and as cheesed off as Evatt will be, it's up to him to roll his sleeves up and fight to win back his place.
One man who is back is Stephen Crainey and what an encouraging sight that is heading into the final few fences of the season.
He had a tough baptism against the very pacy right winger Danny Haynes but held his own. The 90 minutes will have done him the world of good and in a couple of weeks he'll be back to his best.
So to the action and for a contest that was far from thrilling, there were a fair few chances.
In other words it was like 90 minutes in the company of John Major, with Ricky Gervais occasionally popping in to tell a gag or two.
There had been half chances at either end before Pool leapt into the lead on 28 minutes with a well-worked goal.
Some neat triangle play on the right flank involving Gary Taylor-Fletcher and David Fox culminated in the latter sliding the ball through to Alex Baptiste.
Quite what the full back was doing charging into the opposition area is unknown. What he did next though is very definite – unleashing a powerful shot which beat former England keeper Richard Wright all ends up.
What a moment for Baptiste – heading down to the Conference with Mansfield at the end of last season, now, if there's any justice, about to become a regular in a team one division outside the top flight. The lad deserves it. He's been quietly brilliant every time he's played.
Speaking of which, it was Baptiste who saved Pool on 33 minutes when the home side – at last jerking into action after a miserable opening half hour – broke clear thanks to Pablo Counago's swift pass to Luciano Civelli.
Making his debut after a 1m move from Argentina last month, Civelli missed out on a goal thanks to Baptiste clearing off the line.
Pool didn't exactly make the most of their let-off, conceding just two minutes later.
Miller latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the area and sent a right-footer crashing in off the post. Matt Gilks, preferred to Paul Rachubka, had no chance such was the accuracy of the finish.
DJ Campbell, who ran the channels selflessly all afternoon but without ever really looking like scoring, forced Wright into a save before the break and Haynes whistled a long range effort past Gilks's upright.
After the break, notable for a lengthy demonstration by a group of young cheerleaders energetically flaunting their pom-poms (I've never seen pom-poms on sale in shops. Where do they get them from?), Ipswich were much improved and began to force the Seasiders back.
Pool still had the odd chance – Taylor-Fletcher's cross-shot saved and Campbell denied at the last moment by Alex Bruce's terrific tackle – but it was generally a role reversal of the first period with the home side now on top.
That said they didn't create too much, mainly thanks to the terrific defending of those in tangerine.
The closest shaves for Pool came at the start and the end of the half. Gilks was in the right place to stop Jon Stead's acrobatic overhead kick moments after the restart and the same went for Fox, when he reacted marvellously to scramble Counago's late header from a corner off the line.
Pool negotiated a slightly tense three minutes of stoppage time to claim a thoroughly justified and deserved point.
Why, they even finished with 11 men on the pitch! Hallelujah!
Next stop Derby. Another performance like this and there will be another point, maybe three, to shout about.
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
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 31 mph
Wind direction: West
