Heroic comeback, red card drama and away end delirium: Making sense of Blackpool's captivating Lancashire derby against Burnley

It was the sort of game where you struggled to catch your breath despite not moving from your seat for a couple of hours. It was utterly captivating

Because of the unrelenting drama, it’s hard to make much sense of it.

Burnley were so dominant in the first-half you couldn’t have complained had they held a 4-0 lead at half-time. And yet, on another day had Blackpool been clinical with their chances, it would have been 3-3.

I’m happy to hold my hands up and admit my pre-match prediction was all wrong, because I expected a tight, cagey affair.

In my defence, the stats were in my favour as Blackpool had only scored twice in their first four games of the season, while Burnley had only notched one more.

In further mitigation, I also suggested conceding early would have been a disaster for Blackpool given they were facing a possession-based side – as much as the Burnley fans are struggling to come to terms with it – who would have gleefully popped the ball around at will.

Lo and behold, with just four minutes on the clock, Vincent Kompany’s side showed their quality as Josh Brownhill curled a sumptuous long-range effort beyond Dan Grimshaw’s despairing dive and into the top corner.

It was tough going for the next few moments. The Clarets swarmed all over the visitors, who didn’t know where to turn.

In the end, it was a surprise it took Burnley another seven minutes to score, but score they did as Nathan Tella made a clever run inside Jordan Gabriel before slotting home.

A long, long afternoon looked to be in store for the shell-shocked Seasiders. Burnley looked like scoring every time they ventured forward with Kompany’s new Man City-like approach.

Thankfully for Blackpool, Burnley haven’t quite nailed down their new style, which is the complete antithesis of the no-risk approach of Sean Dyche.

It helped the home side, and goalkeeper Arijanet Muric in particular, were so keen to shoot themselves in the foot on a regular basis. Their fans didn’t help either, creating an air of anxiety and tension whenever the ball was played back to the man in between the sticks.

We shouldn’t take anything away from Blackpool though, as they showed the bravery to press from the front and force mistakes as the hosts looked to play out from the back. It resulted in three or four gilt-edged opportunities during the course of the 90.

Too many of these came to nothing, but in the first-half Theo Corbeanu pounced inside the 18-yard box before coolly slotting home his first goal in tangerine to reduce the arrears.

Having been played off the park in the opening stages, Blackpool only found themselves a goal down. It could have been even better though.

Shayne Lavery, playing out on the right rather than the left to help deal with Ian Maatsen’s marauding runs, missed a glorious opportunity when he somehow managed to side foot wide from point-blank range after being left completely unmarked from Dom Thompson’s left-wing cross.

It turned out to be a pivotal moment in the game, or so we thought, as Burnley instantly restored their lead when Tella punished Gabriel for his untimely slip to bag his second of the game.

You did fear at half-time, there was a feeling this could be anything – five, six, seven and so on. But Blackpool had other ideas.

They came out of the blocks at the start of the second-half a different animal and, for the large part, dominated the second 45 minutes, penning an expensively-assembled Burnley side into their own half and, at times, gluing them to the ropes.

But chances came and went, plenty of them too. It looked like it would be another case of Blackpool’s lack of quality in the final third being their undoing.

But in a three-minute spell, the Seasiders turned the game on its head. It started with Gabriel, who had endured a disappointing first-half, showing a clean pair of heels to Maatsen to reach the byline before pulling the ball back to Lavery to steer home a first goal of the season.

Two minutes later, Burnley’s lead – which had previously looked so comfortable – completely evaporated.

There was absolute pandemonium in the away end as Jerry Yates – also scoring for the first time this term – produced a carbon copy of Lavery’s finish to send the Seasiders absolutely delirious.

The away side smelt blood. A first win at Turf Moor since 1998 was there for the taking. Josh Bowler saw a long-range effort saved before Yates was denied by a sprawling Muric after an exquisite turn in the box.

But the drama was only just beginning. After six goals and chances galore, we thought we’d had our fair share of talking points.

But with six minutes left, both sides were reduced to 10 men when Carey cynically brought Maatsen down, prompting the Burnley man to react and barge Carey over.

Many won’t agree, but I don’t think either player can have any complaints. Carey had no intention of playing the ball and he showed a complete disregard for his opponent.

Yes I realise what he was trying to do, stop a Burnley break, but you have to accept the punishment that comes with the crime.

The controversy actually worked against Blackpool, as Burnley enjoyed a late spell of pressure – their first of the half – in the eight minutes of stoppage-time.

But Blackpool, just as they did against QPR in midweek, stood tall to earn themselves a fabulous point in East Lancashire.

In the end, both sides produced 13 shots on goal, but Blackpool had eight compared to Burnley’s four. Perhaps Appleton is right to suggest his side should have won?

Nevertheless, it felt like a win because of the way the Seasiders fought back. This is a side with guts and determination, a side that doesn’t know when it’s beaten.

But do you know what? It’s also a side that can play some bloody good football and create plenty of chances. That’s an exciting combination.