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Preston 0 Blackpool 1- full match report
IT'S not the done thing to be arrogant or smug in victory.
It is important to remain gracious and congratulate our nearest and fiercest rivals on a valiant performance.
On second thoughts, forget it. Blackpool have local bragging rights and blimey it feels good.
This was a double whammy and and then some. Preston were beaten on their own patch (Pool only the fourth team to do that all season in the league) and in the process Tony Parkes side made it to that all-important 50 point mark.
It's almost 1970 and Fred Pickering in reverse.
Back then, 39 years ago to the very day, Pickering's hat-trick sealed promotion for Pool and sent PNE down.
On Saturday victory almost guaranteed the Seasiders safety, while pretty much finishing off North End's chances of making the play-offs.
What a day it was, up there with the Pickerings, the last-minute Ormerod heroics, or the Wes penalty chip.
In fact, speaking of last season's victory, this was perhaps even sweeter.
Then Wes had delighted the tangerine hordes with his beautifully converted penalty. But it still felt a little like Blackpool weren't a Championship side, like they were just temporary guests at some exclusive party.
Not any more. They are in the top two tiers by merit and on the verge of securing a third season there. They are at the same level as Preston, whether their neighbours like it or not.
And they deserve to be. On Saturday, in front of the biggest league crowd at Deepdale in 38 years – 5,000 of them donned in tangerine, crammed behind the goal and easily drowning out the home support with their non-stop backing – Pool simply played better than their rivals.
There was the odd scare – the first half free-kick from Ross Wallace which thudded off the post; the late header from Sean St Ledger chalked off for a push.
But in general the Seasiders were the better team, especially in the second period, and thoroughly deserved their second successive 1-0 win at Deepdale (the first time they've achieved back-to-back wins at North End since the days of Tony Green, Glyn James and Alan Suddick in the early 70s).
Charlie Adam, a man who will now be fending off the autograph hunters in these parts forever and a day, struck moments before the break with a low drive which bounced gloriously in off the post.
After half-time, when one expected PNE to roar forward in search of an equaliser, Pool controlled the game.
It wasn't really ever tense or nervy, and in fact Tony Parkes ended up a little disappointed his team didn't add a second goal.
Every player on the pitch did his bit.
The back four, with Shaun Barker and Rob Edwards at the centre, were defiant; Adam and Keith Southern won the midfield battle, the reason Pool had a relatively comfortable afternoon; and up front DJ Campbell and Ben Burgess ran themselves into the ground.
It was a minor miracle not that Pool won, but that they had 11 players on the pitch capable of doing it.
Southern hit the nail on the head afterwards when he said what a patched-up side it was.
He and Campbell hadn't trained all week, both suffering from ankle injuries. It was Burgess's first game in 11 weeks after undergoing knee surgery. And on the right Roy O'Donovan was thrown in just a few weeks after undergoing emergency surgery on his appendix.
And yet the walked wounded still emerged triumphant!
How much of a sickener that must be to a Preston side who were desperate for the points to keep their promotion challenge going.
They were confident too, hardly surprising given they've the best home record in the division and had been unbeaten in their last 12 games at Deepdale.
But I've said it time and time again. Lofty league positions and expensive highly-paid players do not matter a jot when this Blackpool team have their heads on and are in the mood.
They had been made well aware of the importance of this fixture, in terms of making up for the horrible performance against Plymouth, reaching 50 points and – perhaps most importantly of all – not letting the fans down for a fourth and final time in a derby match this season.
Everyone responded. And when Pool play like this – committed and fighting like tigers – they rarely get beaten.
Preston, who, for whatever reason, didn't have that same unity and will to win, discovered that to their cost.
That terrific team spirit Pool possess and a determination not to lose was instilled in this group of players by Simon Grayson.
The same core of players who were so important during his reign – Southern, Barker, Burgess, Crainey, Rachubka, Evatt, Taylor-Fletcher – are still at the club and still have that same desire. They are the main men in the dressing room and their attitude rubs off on everyone else. Add to those the class of Adam and Campbell, not to mention Alex Baptiste (he cost Pool 10,000 from Mansfield. Bargain of the season?
It's like buying a Ming dynasty vase for a fiver), and you have a team that can make up for its deficiencies and give anyone a tough time. Ask Birmingham.
And ask Alan Irvine.
The crucial moment came in the 43rd minute. Shaun Barker – who had another classy game – surged over the halfway line but lost the ball.
Adam won it back and, like he always does, got his head down and ran towards the opposition penalty area. He moved the ball onto his left foot, looked up, and from 20 yards shot low, powerfully and accurately.
The ball beat Lonergan all ends up and hit the net via the inside of the post.
The travelling support leapt to their feet and didn't sit down again, chanting all the way through to the moment Andy D'Urso blew to confirm a famous victory.
There had been a let-off on 16 minutes, Adam fouling Paul McKenna on the edge of the box and Ross Wallace hitting the woodwork with a fine dead ball effort.
Paul Rachubka also made a great save, arching backwards to claw away Stuart Elliott's angled effort. A top notch stop, as both managers concurred.
David Vaughan – magnificent on the left – missed a decent chance to double the advantage in the second half, while an Adam free-kick from fully 30 yards shaved the post.
One heart-in-the-mouth moment at the end, when Sean St Ledger headed in a Wallace corner. But the ref came to the rescue by ruling it out for a shove. "It looked very harsh," said Irvine. "It was GBH," said Parkes. Who said managers never agree…
Minutes later it was all over and the celebrations could begin in earnest.
With a game against Reading today, the players weren't allowed to celebrate with a beer or three.
But local pub landlords won't have worried too much. They had at least 5,000 orders for champagne on Saturday night and how sweet it will have tasted.
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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
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Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
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