Brett Ormerod column: Blackpool's fortunes now look to be turning

I know Fleetwood got beaten at Northampton Town in midweek, but aside from that, they’ve been in fantastic form.

You could say it’s come at the right time for Blackpool though because they’re in great form, so hopefully they can get another win.

It was a potential banana skin for them, but they began to dominate from the last 20 minutes of the first half and they really stepped it up in the second half, when they were fantastic and put them to the sword.

They didn’t give Harrogate a sniff and ran out comfortable winners, which isn’t always easy to do in these types of games.

To carry that on against a Portsmouth side that was unbeaten away from home this season, it’s another good step forward for them.

Blackpool made six changes for the cup game and then another five in midweek, which just goes to show the strength in depth they’ve got.

Neil Critchley has got a wealth of options to choose from now but he’s going to need it because it’s going to be a long, hard season.

There will be injuries, suspensions and all sorts of other things that players pick up, so he’s going to need those options – but it seems like it’s coming together.

They’re looking a goal threat every time they go forward and a clean sheet against Portsmouth is fantastic considering they’re the league’s top scorers.

Portsmouth are going to be up there at the end of the season, I’ve no doubt about it. That just goes to show what a good result it was.

It’s turning out to be a good division this season, it’s an interesting one. Come February and March there could be eight or nine teams looking for promotion.

Blackpool are on a roll at the moment. They didn’t let their disappointment at Doncaster affect them. The referee didn’t help during that game with a couple of dodgy decisions.

It shows they’ve got the character to bounce back and get through in the FA Cup against a Harrogate side who have just come up into the Football League and are doing well.

To win it as convincingly as they did and then go and beat Portsmouth with a clean sheet, it’s been a fantastic week for them.

If they had beaten Doncaster, as they probably ought to have done, it would be eight wins in a row now. It’s a shame but they’re still on a great run anyway.

Beating teams like Portsmouth and Peterborough, sides that are expected to be up there this season, is crucial. You’re talking about big teams for this division.

A couple of weeks ago, on the radio, I said it will be interesting to see where Blackpool are in the table because they’ve got some really difficult games coming up, but they seem to be taking it all in their stride.

You get some teams that tend to perform well against better opposition and struggle against those sides that aren’t quite as good.

I’m not saying Blackpool are that team though, because they showed against Harrogate they’re capable of putting lesser opposition to the sword.

That’s the pleasing thing, Blackpool are scoring goals and creating good chances. Perhaps in the past, for all their good work and good ball play, they weren’t really producing efforts on goal or making the keeper work.

At the moment, they seem to be doing that now.

It’s a long season and Blackpool didn’t get the best of starts, but I’ve been in that position myself many years ago when we had a terrible start under Steve McMahon.

It was touch and go whether he was going to walk but he stayed, we went on a fantastic run, got in the play-offs and got promotion. There’s a long way to go.

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