A look back at the last time Blackpool beat Championship newcomers Burnley

Blackpool 1-0 Burnley – April 13, 2013

It’s not a bad feeling watching Blackpool win, is it?

While we should have become used to that in recent seasons, it’s a habit which everyone at Bloomfield Road undoubtedly lost in the last few months.

Footballers are quite a resilient bunch. Throughout their careers they’ll have huge highs and terrible lows and they never usually let it get to them. But none of Blackpool’s players will have experienced a season quite like this one, something which was beginning to show in their performances.

The Seasiders at times looked like they never believed they were good enough to pick up three points, take the lead or even score a goal.

But over the past few weeks the tide has started to turn again and Paul Ince has succeeded in bringing a real positive feeling back to Pool.

And it’s not only the players - Blackpool’s fans have been through the mill this season, so they deserve this upturn more than anyone.

It would have been easy for the supporters to turn on the players, but they never once have.

A win against Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow will mean they are finally safe and the long trip to Brighton can be an end-of-season party.

But when people look back at key moments of the season, Saturday’s game can be placed right up there.

A loss to Burnley could have seen them within one bad result of dropping into the bottom three.

Instead Pool are now 12th in the league and looking up rather than down.

There were no surprises in Ince’s starting line-up, Barry Ferguson returned from a one-match ban, replacing Isaiah Osbourne who missed the first of three he’ll be forced to watch after his sending off at Nottingham Forest. A huge boost came on the bench in the form of Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who was back in the squad for the first time since injuring his hamstring against Birmingham at the start of last month.

The atmosphere inside Bloomfield Road had a real derby feel about it, which added to the importance of the clash. And if Pool were a little nervous, it showed in the very first minute.

A couple of scuffed clearances led to a corner for the away side, and Junior Stanislas fired into the side-netting after Ross Wallace’s short dead ball.

Blackpool responded well to Burnley’s early spurt, and on six minutes had their first opening when Alex Baptiste’s near-post cross caused all sorts of confusion.

A minute later came their first chance. Matt Phillips crossed from the left only for Nathan Delfouneso to scuff his effort. To be fair it appeared to bobble up, so we’ll just put that one down to the surface.

Ince’s men were on top, and a decent move on nine minutes ended with Kirk Broadfoot firing a rasping effort just wide from the corner of the box. It was a bright, attacking start from the Seasiders, and one boss Ince would have been delighted with.

Even so, it was only the width of Matt Gilks’ post which kept Pool on level terms.

Stanislas did well to intercept a Ludo Sylvestre pass before bursting forward and rattling the post from 25 yards. A let-off for the Seasiders.

The game was turning out to be hugely entertaining, and Ince was next to have an effort at goal, firing a half-volley into the ground and the arms of Grant in goal.

As the heavens opened, things became scrappy, with neither side making much ground in the final third. Pool kept plugging away, although a couple of long-range Phillips strikes were as good as it got.

Burnley winger Wallace has a knack of scoring against Blackpool and he was almost at it again on 42 minutes.

The former Preston man cut in from the left and Gilks had to be at his best to tip his dipping effort over for a corner. At this point the game was on a knife-edge. The start of the second period looked to be heading the same way until a moment of sheer class on 57 minutes.

Sylvestre picked up the ball a good 30 yards from goal and rocketed an effort into the top corner. Grant in the Burnley goal could do nothing and the roof came off Bloomfield Road. The French midfielder has had another up and down season but he’s come alive under Ince. There’s no doubting the security of two defensive midfielders, in Ferguson and Chris Basham, has given him the freedom to roam around and produce the sort of football we’ve seen in glimpses in the past few seasons.

When Ince sits down to talk new contracts with his stars, you’d imagine Sylvestre will be high on the Blackpool boss’ wish-list. It was a case of grinding it out after that.

While they defended well enough, they could be accused of sitting back a little too much instead of going for that killer second goal. Burnley had plenty of the ball but created few clear-cut chances. MacKenzie and Broadfoot were outstanding at the back.

The fact Charlie Austin was a spectator throughout shows just how well Pool’s defensive pairing played.

The home side had to be content with playing on the counterattack, and so nearly made the perfect break when Phillips burst forward. He found Ince, whose effort hit the bar before Sylvestre headed the rebound wide.

Things were much more open than Ince would have liked, and with five left he introduced Neal Eardley and Craig Cathcart in place of the superb Sylvestre and Phillips.

The move saw Pool switch to 4-5-1, which left them looking much tighter, and they were able to hold on for the points. At full-time you could see what the result and the vital points meant for everyone in the stadium.

TEAM: Gilks, Baptiste, Broadfoot, MacKenzie, Basham, Crainey, Ferguson, Sylvestre (Cathcart), Ince, M. Phillips (Eardley), Delfouneso (Taylor-Fletcher)

Attendance: 14,437