Ben Burgess: Joyous celebrations at Crewe long overdue

The scenes at Gresty Road on Saturday were long overdue. The Blackpool players responded fantastically to all the criticism that’s been heaped on them this season (lots of it justified).

With just ten men for over half the game it showed amazing character to bounce back from Crewe’s equaliser and to continue to press for a winner that was duly converted by the one consistent rock in tangerine, Tom Aldred.

In typical Blackpool fashion they gave a last minute penalty away that was fortunately blasted over by the Crewe striker.

Fingers crossed (again) that this could be the boost and turning point that keeps the Seasiders in this division. Unfortunately, their fate is in other teams hands due to Blackpool having played more games than Doncaster and Oldham.

More should become clear though after Blackpool play a quarter of their remaining games over the Easter weekend.

I’m looking forward to doing the commentary at the game against Bury today.

I watched the previous game between the sides at Gigg Lane earlier in the season and it was an absolute goal fest.

The Seasiders were undone by the left back from Bury and his sublime set pieces on that day, but the Shakers were extremely vulnerable at the back and are on their own poor run of form at the moment.

Monday’s game against Bradford will be huge for both clubs and could have a genuine say in which team drops down (or maybe both).

I still have fond memories of my last visit to Donny’s Keepmoat Stadium when we managed to come from behind and lead 3-2 with just a few minutes to go.

Typically, Billy Sharp popped up with an equaliser that day but it was a great game and Ian Holloway’s pre-match dance in the changing room makes the whole day more memorable!

On Monday, twitter celebrated its tenth anniversary. There’s a whole host of world famous people regularly tweeting their thoughts out there and there’s also some intelligent and not so intelligent footballers entertaining us with their updates. Social media is such a huge part of everyday lives, yet just ten years ago the idea seemed ludicrous. As a young player serving my apprenticeship the likes of Twitter were a mere blip on the horizon.

We were too busy trying to get the high score on Snake with our new Nokia mobiles.

Nowadays, young players are rightly given social media training to avoid the types of scandals and backlashes seen recently with the likes of Saido Berahino tweeting his contempt for his own chairman, and Joleon Lescott accidentally tweeting a picture of an expensive sports car after another Aston Villa defeat.

It’s too easy to take the Harry Redknapp line of banning his players from using social media. I believe it does have an important role to play in life and sport.

I use twitter regularly to interact and receive feedback from people about my articles, to keep abreast of the latest news in teaching and to follow the blogs of innovative teachers that I try to emulate.

It’s a chance for a fan to feel closer to a player, a chance to (sometimes) hear a player’s real thoughts after a game or to debate an issue with a player on their team.

For the players, they can have their say to defend themselves after a defeat or as I often see, to thank travelling fans for their support or even to apologise after a poor performance.

I am aware that there will often be the brainless minority that use twitter to abuse and vent their anger, but this happens in stadiums anyway.

Joey Barton always has a witty riposte for these types that generally put them in their place. I think social media is a good thing… as long as you’re not subject to Michael Owen’s boring tweets about his cat.