Despite Blackpool avoiding defeat at Cardiff City, the performance will do little to quell Michael Appleton's doubters

If we’re being truthful, Blackpool should have been dead and buried by half-time. The performance in the first-half was arguably as bad as anything we’ve seen this season.

Had Cardiff been wearing their shooting boots, they would have been out of sight at the interval with a a two or three-goal lead. Had that been the case, Michael Appleton’s side could have had no complaints whatsoever.

It appeared they got away with one when ex-PNE man Callum Robinson was felled in the box by the returning Dan Grimshaw, only for referee Josh Smith to hand the Seasiders an early gift-wrapped Christmas present and award them a free-kick, booking the Cardiff forward in the process.

The home side only have themselves to blame though, because they passed up so many opportunities to build on the lead given to them by Kion Etete in the 36th minute.

In many respects, the goal summed up Blackpool’s opening 45 minutes – passive and so far off the pace.

No pressure whatsoever was applied to the man in possession, which was a running theme of their first-half, allowing a simple ball to be chipped over James Husband for Etete latch onto and run clear through on goal.

The returning Dan Grimshaw, who was back in the side for the injured Chris Maxwell, was caught in no man’s land as Etete produced a simple lob to bounce the ball into the back of the empty net.

Husband didn’t cover himself in glory for the goal either but, as much as the centre-back endured a difficult first-half, he certainly wasn’t helped by an ineffective midfield three ahead of him who were alarmingly easy to play through.

Counting their blessings

Somehow Blackpool made it to the break only one a down. It says an awful lot about Cardiff’s finishing, or lack of it, that they ended the game with only one goal to their name despite producing 22 shots on goal, 16 of those coming inside the first hour. It’s no wonder they’re the league’s second lowest scorers.

To Blackpool’s credit, Appleton got a reaction out of them at half-time and they improved in the second-half, although it would have been difficult to have played any worse.

The change to 4-4-2 certainly helped, which raises questions about the viability of Appleton’s preferred 4-3-3 system going forward.

The three that came off the bench also had a positive impact, Ian Poveda impressing as a substitute for the second game running to surely put him in line for a starting role at Hull on Boxing Day while CJ Hamilton and Jake Beesley also caught the eye.

Blackpool’s more direct approach into Gary Madine certainly paid dividends and it was written in the stars the former Cardiff man, who failed to find the back of the net during his two-year spell in South Wales despite costing £6m, was the man to draw Blackpool back level.

The goal was as simple as they come, the 32-year-old sending a downward header past the flailing Ryan Allsop after rising highest to meet Poveda’s right-wing cross.

Madine, who was fortunate to avoid a straight red 15 minutes prior following an apparent stamp on Perry Ng – which Cardiff boss Mark Hudson claimed was “premeditated” – predictably celebrated his goal by taunting the home faithful.

Worrying signs remain

For a moment it looked like Blackpool could actually go on and win the game, which seemed inconceivable at half-time. That would have taken the meaning of ‘smash and grab’ to a whole new level had that happened.

The visitors certainly can’t grumble about having to settle for a point though, despite it stretching their winless run to six games.

Just two points have been picked up from a possible 18, which is as worrying as the startling drop in Blackpool’s performance since the return from the World Cup.

While the four straight defeats before the break were certainly cause for concern, the performance levels have somehow managed to get even worse despite the results appearing more positive.

It begs the question, what exactly were they working on during their four weeks away?

Fan disconnect

Appleton is coming under serious pressure now from the fanbase and matters weren’t helped when he opted not to head over to the away end to applaud the small but loyal band of supporters who had made the long trip down to South Wales.

Given the chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” that greeted his double change in the second-half – a change that ironically almost won Blackpool the game – you can see why Appleton might not want to show his appreciation.

But Pool’s head coach, who was also targeted by chants of “sacked in the morning” for the second away game running, won’t help himself by making the current disconnect feel even worse.

An ‘us-against-them’ mentality is the last thing Blackpool need at this moment in time when it looks for all intents and purposes like they’re going to remain in a relegation scrap for the foreseeable future.

The first-half was that bad you couldn’t help but ask yourself whether he had lost the players, but the reaction they showed in the second-half suggested otherwise. They were certainly fighting for the cause.

Does this draw only serve to paper over the cracks? I suppose we’ll only find out at Hull on Boxing Day.

A points tally of 24 points at the halfway stage isn’t exactly going to fill fans with confidence though, injury crisis or not.