'Fans didn't even notice!': Stephen Dobbie reflects on iconic Blackpool play-off against Birmingham City

The ex-forward scored Blackpool’s opening goal at St Andrew’s during their decisive play-off second leg back in 2012 as they secured a 3-2 aggregate win to book their place at Wembley.

Unfortunately Ian Holloway’s men weren’t able to repeat the magical scenes two years previous as they suffered a cruel defeat to West Ham in the final.

Nevertheless, Dobbie has good personal memories of playing at St Andrew’s and he will be hoping for similar jubilation this weekend to keep Blackpool’s faint survival hopes alive.

“It was a big night in the semi-final,” he said.

“I knocked a little goal in, it creeped in at the front post and the fans didn’t even notice until I was sliding on my knees.

“We’ll be looking for the same result on Saturday.”

Unlike the Seasiders, John Eustace’s side have little to play for given they sit 15th in the table, 12 points adrift of the play-offs and 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

“I’ve watched a lot of them,” Dobbie added.

“They’ve got (Lukas) Jutkiewicz up front who is going to be a threat. They’ve got a couple of good players running off him, (Jobe) Bellingham and (Krystian) Bielik in midfield, so they’ve got a decent squad and they’re mid-table in the Championship, so it should be a good test for the lads.”

Blackpool know relegation to League One can be confirmed this weekend if they lose and results elsewhere go against them.

Despite the doom and gloom, Dobbie insists his players must remain positive with three games still to go.

“The boys were disappointed in midweek but I just went in and told them to keep their heads up, because they gave everything,” he said.

“For the first-half we were outstanding. West Brom are pushing for the play-offs but we outplayed them.

“They got back into it for maybe the first 20 minutes of the second-half and then again the crowd got us going. Even when we went 2-0 down, it wasn’t the West Brom fans I could hear, it was the Blackpool fans which shows you what they were seeing on the pitch was good.”