Claiming credit from a lose-lose situation: Matt Scrafton's verdict on Blackpool's comfortable FA Cup second round victory against Harrogate Town

Win and observers will shrug their shoulders and say ‘so what? You were supposed to’. Lose and you’re made to look a little silly and will get all sorts of pelters coming your way.

All you can do is secure your passage through to the next round with minimal fuss and move on.

But in seeing off Eastbourne Borough and Harrogate Town, scoring seven in the process and without conceding a goal, the Seasiders certainly deserve credit for the manner in which they’ve navigated two potentially tricky ties.

You only have to look at Chorley’s stunning win against Peterborough United, who sit second in League One, to realise it doesn’t always go so swimmingly.

A lot of people might look at Harrogate, who up until recent years have been a fairly modest non-league outfit, and assume Blackpool ought to be winning comfortably.

But Simon Weaver’s side are riding the crest of a wave at the minute, sitting pretty in 12th place in the League Two table having secured promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club’s history following their Wembley play-off final triumph in August.

At half-time on Saturday, they would have been quietly confident of causing a cup upset having successfully blunted Critchley’s men during a scrappy opening 45 minutes in the Yorkshire fog.

Blackpool, as one would expect, had the lion’s share of possession but were frustrated by Harrogate’s defensive block, with two lines of four sitting deep and denying the Seasiders space.

The best chance of the half probably came the way of Harrogate, who countered quickly from their defensive shell to leave Pool chasing a long ball in behind.

Mark Beck, a 6ft 5 ins striker, flicked the ball into the path of Jack Muldoon who bore down one-on-one with Chris Maxwell. But just as the forward looked ready to pull the trigger, Marvin Ekpiteta somehow recovered to make a crucial last-ditch tackle.

Aside from that, the first-half was a pretty uneventful affair. CJ Hamilton had the beating of Harrogate’s left-back Connor Hall time and time again, but the Seasiders were unable to capitalise.

On one occasion, Hamilton got to the byline before pulling it back to Ben Woodburn, but the Liverpool loanee – who was underwhelming throughout – produced a poor first touch and the chance went begging.

The second-half, however, was a different story entirely. Once Blackpool got their noses in front, they never looked back and the gap between the two sides looked a lot more than 21 places.

There was an element of fortune in how Blackpool’s opener came about, even if it was a set-piece they had worked on prior to the game.

Luke Garbutt, returning from a six-week injury lay-off to play against his hometown club, swung in a vicious corner towards the near post that took a deflection off man-mountain Beck to fly into the bottom corner.

Garbutt claimed the goal ought to go down as his, given his corner was apparently heading on target, but he’s unlikely to be successful with that ambitious bid.

Nevertheless, the goal – coming just five minutes into the second period – was a vital one in opening the game up and inviting Harrogate out of their deep retreat.

While Harrogate, looking to qualify for the third round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history, did go close to a quick equaliser through Muldoon, it soon became a matter of time until Blackpool added more goals.

At first, they were thwarted by Harrogate keeper James Belshaw, who made a string of fine stops to keep the Seasiders at bay.

Just before the hour mark, Belshaw produced a stunning double save, first palming Woodburn’s curling effort away from goal into the path of Hamilton, whose first-time effort – which appeared at first to be a simple tap-in into the back of an empty net – was somehow turned behind by the recovering Belshaw.

Thankfully Pool weren’t left waiting too long for their second, with Grant Ward doubling their lead from the resulting corner. The partially cleared delivery fell nicely to Ward on the edge of the box, but he still had plenty to do. Nevertheless, he nonchalantly brought the ball down before thumping it home with aplomb.

The Seasiders, who had made six changes for this cup tie, looked as fresh as a daisy, while Harrogate toiled and tired.

Blackpool would eventually add some deserved gloss to the scoreline in the dying stages as the introduction of the three substitutes produced more of an attacking purpose.

Demetri Mitchell went close to scoring within seconds of coming on, arrowing a shot across the keeper that hit the inside of the post and bounced across the goalline. Thankfully Jordan Gabriel had ran the full length of the pitch to tap home Blackpool’s third and his first goal for the club.

The action didn’t stop there though, with time still remaining for some late drama.

It began in the final minute of normal time, with Harrogate defender Kevin Lokko being shown a straight red card for bringing Gary Madine to the ground as the striker raced through on goal. It was harsh, given the game was already as good as over, but the referee was left with no choice.

The resulting free-kick saw Ekpiteta nod the ball towards the back post where Dan Kemp, another sub, was there to tap home virtually on the goalline.

Harrogate will argue the scoreline was a little harsh on them in the end but, if we’re being truthful, Blackpool probably ought to have five or six. Hamilton alone could have had a hat-trick, only to be denied by the inspired Belshaw on each occasion.

Nevertheless, it’s job done and the third round now awaits.