Brett Ormerod on Blackpool's cruel defeat to Bournemouth, growing injury list, Kevn Stewart's return and tricky trip to Cardiff City

I thought Blackpool were excellent, especially in the second half, but for a couple of great saves from the goalkeeper and the one that crashed back off the crossbar, it could have been two or three.

They didn’t get that all-important second goal and when you’re facing a team as good as Bournemouth, you know when it’s only 1-0 they’re still in the game.

They finished strongly. Credit to Scott Parker, who made a couple of subs and they went for it.

As soon as they got that first one, which was a result of a wicked deflection that went round the back of the defence to Jamal Lowe, you always feared the worst during the five minutes of stoppage time.

They had the momentum, they pushed everyone forward and they managed to get the second right at the death.

Sometimes you don’t always get what you deserve in football and it definitely felt like that last Saturday.

It was a great goal from Josh Bowler to give Blackpool the lead though.

He’s in great form at the moment. He could easily have scored a second but the keeper pulled off a worldie off his right foot.

I actually thought in the first half that, up to his great goal, Bowler was actually having a fairly quiet game because of how well Lewis Cook was doing at breaking up play in front of the backline.

In the second half, they got beyond him and Jerry Yates and Gary Madine managed to get on the ball more and they created more chances as a result.

Bournemouth have spent a hell of a lot of money though, a lot more than Blackpool, so they can take a lot of positives from it.

It definitely was one of those heart-in-your mouth games because the performance was superb, even if the result wasn’t.

Unfortunately they were just made to pay for not being able to get that second goal. If they managed to find it, I’m confident it would have been a different story.

As I say though, fair play to Parker. He gambled a bit and it paid off for him.

It was a big disappointment to lose Marvin Ekpiteta, especially as Richard Keogh is also out now.

It looks to be a hamstring, which will take a few weeks. That made it a double blow in that respect, but it’s something Blackpool are just going to have to cope with.

They’re almost accustomed to being without a lot of players now through injury, I think they’ll be without nine this weekend.

The pitches are getting heavier and it looked pretty heavy at Bloomfield Road last weekend.

We’ve had some horrible weather too, so the pitches are definitely that bit heavier.

Blackpool played a lot of games over Christmas too when a lot of other sides had matches postponed, so that will be having an impact.

Sometimes you pick up a lot of muscle injuries that way and it just seems Blackpool are getting a lot of bad luck.

On a positive note, it was great to see Kevin Stewart back in the starting line-up. I must say though, I was surprised he managed to last the full 90.

He did look tired come the end but that’s totally understandable when you’ve been out as long as he has and you’re playing in a game like that. That was definitely a big plus.

I certainly wouldn’t have lasted 90 minutes having been out for so long though, so fair play to him.

It’s a trip to Cardiff City this weekend, which will be tough as they’ve picked up in recent weeks.

They got a good result at Bloomfield Road at the start of the season and they were in and around the play-offs at one point.

They have a big, strong team with some powerful lads, they’re really good at set-pieces and cause you all sorts of problems.

After that performance, you were thinking they would be right up there this season, but it’s just totally fallen away while Blackpool picked up.

It’s always a tough game there. They’ve signed Jordan Hugill, who looks to be doing fairly well, so they’ve still got a lot of dangerous players and I’m sure it will be a very difficult game.

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