Blackpool 3-1 Peterborough United: Late goals from Sonny Carey and Jerry Yates secure vital win

The Seasiders’ run without a victory looked to be heading to eight with just four minutes remaining on the clock.

But Carey came off the bench to put Neil Critchley’s side in front with his first goal in tangerine, before Yates made sure of the points in stoppage time.

Not only are Blackpool back to winning ways after three straight defeats, they’re also back in the goals having failed to find the back of the net in six-and-a-half hours of football prior to today’s vital triumph.

Following last week’s dire defeat against Derby County, Critchley opted to make FIVE changes to his starting XI.

One was enforced, with goalkeeper and club captain Chris Maxwell dropping out after suffering a recurrence of his quad injury. Dan Grimshaw was the man to replace them.

Elsewhere, Dujon Sterling, Callum Connolly, Owen Dale and Sonny Carey all dropped down to the bench.

Jordan Gabriel, Kenny Dougall, Josh Bowler and Gary Madine were the four to replace him.

Madine, who was the last Pool player to score from open play at Bloomfield Road back in October, returned from a groin injury, to partner Shayne Lavery in attack.

Reece James, meanwhile, was fit enough to start again having shaken off a hamstring injury he suffered at Pride Park last week.

Oliver Casey (ankle), Luke Garbutt (knee), Kevin Stewart (ankle), Matty Virtue (ACL) and Grant Ward (achilles) all remain sidelined.

The likes of Richard Keogh, Demetri Mitchell, CJ Hamilton and Tyreece John-Jules weren’t involved.

Posh, who began the day inside the bottom three, made two changes to the side that picked up a vital 2-1 win against Millwall last week.

Darren Ferguson’s side have endured a torrid run of results on the road this season, having lost 10 of their 11 away games.

The game was just one of 14 3pm kick-offs to take place in England’s top four divisions after a chaotic week of postponements up and down the country due to Covid.

The numbers in the terraces were certainly down, but that did little to dampen the North Stand who were in fine voice as always in the early stages.

It was a fairly tentative start to the game from the Seasiders, who unsurprisingly didn’t look to be filled with confidence.

Those confidence levels took another hit when they fell a goal behind after 11 minutes.

It was such a soft goal to concede as well, as Siriki Dembele ran straight through the centre of the pitch to latch onto Josh Knight’s throughball before rounding Grimshaw and slotting home.

To Pool’s credit, they did almost level within two minutes of their setback as Gary Madine headed just wide from Ryan Wintle’s corner.

Blackpool have come from behind to win on just two occasions this season, so it was no wonder the home fans began to get a little unsettled and restless.

Josh Bowler almost created a goal out of nothing midway through the first-half when he rifled just over after spinning his man by the touchline.

The Seasiders were in the ascendancy at this point and were creating openings on a fairly regular basis, but were just lacking that cutting edge in the final third.

That continued when Keshi Anderson’s low curling effort was too close to keeper David Cornell, who had the fairly simple task of pushing the ball away from goal.

But the home side kept the ball alive, working it back into the box from Bowler on the right to Anderson who made no mistake on this occasion, side footing high into the back of the net to level from close range.

Anderson was a fitting goalscorer for the Seasiders after his agent Dom Yarwood, passed away in tragic circumstances on Thursday.

The goal, which had been coming, was Blackpool’s first in six-and-a-half hours of football.

The Seasiders could have been given the opportunity to net a second a minute or two later when they appealed for a penalty.

Jonson Clarke-Harris was the guilty party, appearing to use his arm to control the ball before clearing the ball from the Peterborough nox.

The game became a bit scrappy at this point, with Pool still doing most of the running but unable to work up any momentum.

Despite their predicament, Posh almost seemed happy to remain on level terms, with their keeper Cornell taking an age over his restarts, making for a stop-start affair.

The second-half started in the same vein, with neither side able to produce much quality in what soon became a real slog.

We had to wait until the 58th minute to finally see a bit of goalmouth action in the second 45 minutes, as Bowler combined well with Madine before seeing his goalbound effort deflect just wide.

Madine met the resulting corner well to head towards goal, but his effort was straight at Cornell.

At the other end, Jake Taylor sent a vicious effort swerving towards the Blackpool goal, taking a slight deflection which resulted in the ball looping just over Grimshaw and onto the top of the net.

With just over 20 minutes remaining, the ball almost fell kindly for Madine in the Posh box from a lofted Jordan Gabriel cross, but the striker couldn’t quite reach it in time to get a shot away.

The Seasiders needed a lift and an impetus, something to get the fans off their seats.

Critchley turned to the bench in the 73nd minute to make a double change, Sonny Carey and Jerry Yates replacing Lavery and Madine.

Carey squandered a big chance to put Pool in front within four minutes of entering the fray, side footing over from Reece James’ left-wing cross.

The lack of quality on show was summed up in one comical moment, as Gabriel opted against shooting on his stronger right foot to let fly on his goal, skewing so wide the ball ended up going out for a throw.

This game was all about finding a way to win though and that’s exactly what Critchley’s side did thanks to Carey’s late winner.

The 20-year-old, scoring in tangerine for the first time, showed impressive composure to slot home after Anderson turned provider by laying the ball into his path.

Two became three in the first minute of stoppage time, as Yates scrambled home from close range at the second attempt to send Bloomfield Road into raptures.

TEAMS

Blackpool: Grimshaw, Gabriel, Ekpiteta, Husband, James, Dougall, Wintle (Connolly), Bowler, Anderson, Lavery (Carey), Madine (Yates)

Subs not used: Moore, Sterling, Gretarsson, Dale

Peterborough: Cornell, Edwards, Thompson, Tomlinson, Laylor, Knight, Burrows, Norburn, Grant (Poku), Dembele, Clarke-Harris

Subs not used: Blackmore, Kent, Szmodics, Ward, Randall, Barker

Referee: David Webb

Attendance: 9,745

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