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Macclesfield 2 Blackpool 0 - Full Match Report and gallery
ONCE upon a time a special buzz of excitement surrounded Blackpool's involvement in the first round of the cup.
It was a rare occasion to rub shoulders with one of the footballing big boys, cause a shock and perhaps draw Manchester United or Liverpool.
Nowadays it's the reverse.
As a Championship club it's a bit of a chore to have to travel to a League Two outfit on a Tuesday night, a little like the Queen having to eat dinner at a Little Chef.
It's also a test as these games are a tricky little hurdle that the higher division club has to negotiate, no easy task when up against a team desperate to become giantkillers and claim a scalp.
Macclesfield v Pool picture gallery
And so it was that environment into which Blackpool stepped at the Moss Rose, a small but compact stadium which, due to an impressive turnout from the Tangerine faithful, boasted almost as many away fans as home.
By the end Simon Grayson's men probably wished no one had turned up to watch because to say they failed to live up to their tag of big boys is an understatement and a half.
After failing to score in a first 45 minutes in which they played some good stuff and created plenty, they were utterly miserable after the break and deserved to be beaten, a result that ranks as one of the shocks of the round.
It was painful to watch and not just because of the result – Keith Southern picked up a needless red card and is ruled out of the next three games.
It's not as if Pool had a weak team out. Grayson had vowed pre-match to pick his strongest available 11 and as good as kept his promise.
There were just three changes from the Bristol City opener, Matt Gilks, Joe Martin and Sone Aluko replacing Paul Rachubka, Mo Camara and Claus Jorgensen. The Dane wasn't risked after picking up a knock against Bristol.
After a quiet start notable only for the fact that with 12 minutes gone Ben Burgess suddenly realised he was wearing Zesh Rehman's shirt, the Seasiders thought they'd made the breakthrough a quarter of an hour in.
Adam Hammill nutmegged Shaun Brisley and the right back didn't take too kindly to being embarrassed and scythed the winger down. Brisley was rightly booked.
From the free kick Hammill whipped the ball in and Burgess got in front of his marker and bundled the ball in off the post, only for the linesman to rule it out for offside.
Moments later Martin's corner was glanced goalwards by Ian Evatt but the defender's bad luck in front of goal (much to his increasing frustration he didn't score all last season, while defensive partner Kaspars Gorkss couldn't stop hitting the target) continued as his effort was cleared off the line.
The above are more examples of a failure to put the ball in the net, the theme of the season so far.
And once again Pool paid the price, falling behind in the 25th minute.
The scorer was Brisley. Fresh from attempting to remove Hammill's legs, he used his right foot to better effect when he latched onto a Richard Walker flick from a long free-kick into the box and poked the ball between the legs of the onrushing Matt Gilks.
It was bad marking by Pool, with the right side of the defence ripped open by a bog-standard up and under into the penalty area.
The visitors were rattled, summed up by Rob Edwards picking up a booking seconds after the restart for hacking down Danny Thomas.
Edwards then lost Martin Gritton in the box and was lucky that the striker put a free header wide, from Jamie Tolley's left wing free-kick.
Edwards was having an interesting few minutes. Moments later he was at the other end, hooking the ball against the bar after Burgess had done well to head Martin's cross back into the danger area.
Debutant Sone Aluko, who looked lively, missed a sitter on 31 minutes. Hammill released Gary Taylor-Fletcher with a peach of the ball down the right and the cross was excellent, straight onto Aluko's forehead.
Eight yards out the on-loan Birmingham man provided evidence that he is better on the floor than in the air by sending a weak headed effort wide.
This was better, though, and Burgess was the next to come close, rising highest but heading Martin's looping corner narrowly wide.
Then Taylor-Fletcher's turn to be the culprit. Hammill had won yet another free-kick on the edge of the area (the Liverpool man was causing problems all over the attacking third of the pitch) and floated in a perfect ball but Taylor-Fletcher, unmarked six yards out, powered his header over. He should have at least hit the target.
It was in this area that Grayson's men should have done much better in the opening period. They clearly had the beating of Macclesfield in the air, winning almost every header from balls into the box, but they completely failed to capitalise on this aerial superiority.
Grayson walked down the tunnel at the whistle with an expression that suggested he wasn't about to shake each player by the hand and invite them out for dinner.
More likely he gave them a rollicking for missing so many sitters and Pool certainly came out for the second period with a determined edge.
That determined mood went a little too far in the case of Southern, though.
Moments after failing to apply the finishing touch to a decent Taylor-Fletcher cross, the skipper clashed off-the-ball with Macclesfield midfielder Terry Dunfield and, in what will prove an expensive lapse of discipline, headbutted his opponent.
Red card for violent conduct equals a three match ban – not clever or helpful at this stage of the season, especially from a man wearing the captain's armband.
The one consolation was that Dunfield was dismissed as well, though even that crumb of comfort counted for nothing moments later as things went from bad to worse from the resulting 58th minute free-kick.
Grayson, now looking as if he'd been force-fed 10 lemons, watched in horror as Brisley headed across the six yard box, Gilks fended the ball off a little uncertainly and Gritton nodded into an empty net.
Ten men, two down … things were great.
Grayson reacted by bringing on one of his seven available substitutes (a new rule on the Carling Cup this season), David Vaughan replacing Danny Coid on 65 minutes.
No one could accuse the boss of not going for it as he adopted for an adventurous 3-3-3, leaving Burgess, Aluko and Hammill up front.
Unfortunately it was the home side who appeared to adapt to it better but unfortunately for them Jamie Tolley couldn't hit the target after breaking clear, slashing wide of goal.
Stuart Green and Zesh Rehman also joined in the action but the game had already begun to fizzle out.
The home crowd, of course, didn't mind a jot. They were in thoroughly good spirits, filling their time by taking the mickey out of Grayson in the dugout. It wasn't a night the Blackpool boss or any of his players will look back on with any pride.
Those players did at least keep going till the end and with Hammill continuing to strive to make a breakthrough there was the odd nervy moment in the Macclesfield penalty area.
The never-say-die Ian Evatt came closest, twice, in the same attack. His header was beaten away by Jon Brain before seconds later he spun and shot from the edge of the area and missed by a whisker.
In truth, though, there was only one team that deserved to win and it wasn't wearing tangerine.
Macclesfield might even have won 3-0 had Gilks not dived sharply to stop sub Izak Reid's low drive in stoppage time.
Good luck to the Silkmen, I hope they get a good draw in the next round.
As for Pool, now without a goal in seven matches, I only hope this gives them a kick up the rear-end and they get a point, at least, in Wes Hoolahan country at the weekend.
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Weather for Blackpool
Wednesday 30 May 2012
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