Blackpool's hard-earned win at Huddersfield just the tonic after a difficult few days

The mood around Bloomfield Road was understandably low after a below-par display in defeat to Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday was followed up by the departure of the club’s star man the following night.

An already tricky job of keeping the Seasiders competitive in the Championship during the notoriously difficult second season was made even trickier with Josh Bowler’s exit. But Blackpool have proven time and time again they’re willing to meet these challenges head on.

This wasn’t the prettiest of displays but needs must at times, as Michael Appleton conceded at full-time. His side just needed to find a way to get the three points.

Before the match, Blackpool’s head coach talked about the need to get through the next two or three weeks and reach the international break in as good a shape as possible.

With players out left, right and centre, whether it be through injury, suspension or departing the club, Appleton knows full well he’s short on options at the minute.

On the bench on Saturday was the returning Luke Garbutt, one of three left-backs in the 18-man match-day squad, and young Jack Moore, who was included to make up the numbers, otherwise the Seasiders would have found it difficult to fill the bench.

Dogged wins like this help maintain the morale and confidence, but they also give Appleton’s men some breathing space as they leap up the table into the top half.

Yes it’s only early days and yes the league table changes drastically from game to game, but there’s no doubting the Seasiders will be ahead of schedule in terms of their points tally eight games in.

Although he didn’t share it, Appleton admitted he’s got a points tally in mind and an idea in his head of where the Seasiders need to be at certain stages of the season.

If Blackpool continue their current form for the remainder of the campaign; win one, lose one, draw the odd game, they’ll end up around the 60-point mark for the second season running, which would certainly represent another welcome return in the second tier.

But alas, we’re getting ahead of ourselves a little. It’s only the start of September, we’re not even 10 games in. But Appleton has got to feel encouraged, despite the challenges he’s faced during his short time back in the Bloomfield Road hotseat.

Despite not winning at the John Smith’s Stadium since 2007, this looked to be an appealing game for the Seasiders to get back to winning ways after their midweek disappointment.

This is taking nothing away from Appleton’s charges whatsoever, because they showed bundles of character in what was a perfect away win. But Huddersfield looked surprisingly limited.

Despite the well-publicised controversy, which we’ll get onto, Blackpool deserved the win. They limited an out-of-sorts Huddersfield side to very little in open play and the only time Danny Schofield’s side looked vaguely threatening was from wide areas or set pieces, but even then the visitors dealt with it well.

It’s been a difficult few months for the Terriers, who were 90 minutes away from returning to the Premier League only four months ago only to lose to Nottingham Forest, who rubbed salt in the wounds by nabbing their best two players over the summer.

Carlos Corberan, the man who masterminded their strong campaign, upped sticks and ended up in Greece of all places, where he’s now in charge of a certain Josh Bowler at Olympiacos, via the City Ground of course. Funny how life works out.

Appleton, showing adaptation just like his predecessor for the second time this season, matched up Huddersfield’s 3-4-3 system and it worked to good effect.

The Terriers were nervy and anxious and Blackpool could sense it from a mile off. They didn’t need to constantly force mistakes, they just had to be ready to pounce when the opportunities came their way, which they inevitably did.

Jerry Yates, who delivered another tireless shift from the front, wasted a gilt-edged chance when keeper Lee Nicholls passed him the ball inside the box. Yates deliberated for far too long and once he did make his mind up, he produced neither a shot or a killer pass and the chance went amiss.

This sleepy Sunday affair needed a goal to liven it up and seven minutes before the interval, Blackpool delivered what turned out to be the killer blow.

The goal owed a great deal to Jordan Gabriel’s pressing high up the pitch before playing a perfectly-weighted pass to the excellent Ian Poveda, who had a first start in tangerine to remember.

He did everything right as he slipped the ball past the onrushing Nicholls, only to see his effort rebound off the foot of the post.

It appeared the chance had come and gone, just like the Yates one before it, but the in-form Theo Corbeanu showed an impressive level of composure to calmly control the ball before slotting the ball home, much to the delight of the travelling 1,599 Blackpool fans (a great effort by the way, given the road disruption and the game being moved to a Sunday).

Huddersfield predictably rallied a little in the second-half, but not by a great deal. They huffed and puffed without ever looking like blowing the house down.

Saying that, Yuta Nakayama thought he had scored an equaliser for Huddersfield but the imperious Dan Grimshaw produced two superb saves to deny him from close range, as the referee and goal-line technology ruled the ball had not gone in.

Replays appeared to show the ball comfortably crossed the line, much to the anger of the Huddersfield bench, who were left bemused by how the technology failed to pick it up.

But a spot of fortune was long overdue for the Seasiders, who managed the remainder of the game impressively well, if a little cynically at times.

But a bit of game management never hurt anyone, did it? Like I said, needs must at times.