Are we witnessing a changing of the guard? Matt Scrafton's ode to Dan Grimshaw following Blackpool's vital win against Hull City

When Maxwell returned from his initial injury at the start of December, I had no qualms with him going straight back into the side.

Yes, Grimshaw had performed well in his absence but Maxwell had more than enough stored up in the bank to justify reclaiming his number one jersey.

After all, that’s exactly what he’s been for the last two years since arriving on a free from our dear neighbours down the M55 in January 2020 – the club’s undoubted number one.

As well as that, he’s also the club captain, a locker room leader, a leading voice in the changing room and out on the pitch and a key component in how Blackpool set up in terms of his distribution and ability with the ball at his feet.

So trust me, this is no slight on the 31-year-old whatsoever. I’m a fully paid-up member of Maxwell’s fan club for what he’s done for the Seasiders, especially last season.

But Grimshaw’s recent performances – and this one in particular – are making it more and more difficult to justify Maxwell’s return once he overcomes his second quad injury of the season.

As individual goalkeeping performances go for the Seasiders, I don’t recall many better than this during my time reporting on the club.

Ironically, the only other display that springs to my mind is Maxwell’s heroics at the Stadium of Light towards the back end of last season, when he made a flurry of late saves to secure a vital 1-0 win to aid Blackpool’s promotion push.

But on that occasion it was more of a case of quality over quantity, whereas Grimshaw somehow managed to mix both.

It was paradoxical then that his first two saves, which came during the first-half while the game was still goalless, followed a poor clearance from Grimshaw, which was probably the only thing he got wrong all afternoon.

The error was immediately seized upon by Hull, who were otherwise struggling to create anything of note of their own accord, only for Grimshaw to atone for his mistake by denying Josh Magennis initially before somehow managing to claw away George Honeyman’s shot on the rebound with a strong one-handed save.

If you haven’t watched it back, I urge you to do so, because it was a stunning example of his razor-sharp reflexes – something we’d see again later in the game.

The opening 45 minutes were a little odd in that Blackpool looked understandably jaded playing their third game in the space of seven days – against a Hull side that hadn’t taken to the pitch in two weeks – and yet they could have quite conceivably scored two or three.

As it transpired, their lead was limited to 1-0 at the break thanks to Gary Madine’s emphatic penalty, which came after Josh Bowler – Blackpool’s most potent threat going forward all game long – had been brought down in the box by Jacob Greaves.

On first viewing I was adamant the Hull man won the ball cleanly, but on reflection it looks like Bowler might have just nudged the ball away from the defender before being clattered. If that is indeed the case, the referee deserves huge credit for his eagle-eyed spot. It was about time a decision went Pool’s way, anyway.

Hull responded well to their setback and could have levelled just two minutes later when Keane Lewis-Potter went close.

The highly-regarded youngster let fly with what looked to be an overly ambitious effort from range, but his dipping shot almost crept into the bottom corner – only for Grimshaw to make another fine save to tip it around the post.

Had Keshi Anderson tucked away one of the two opportunities that came his way on the stroke of half-time, as he probably ought to have done, the second-half would have been a lot more comfortable for Neil Critchley’s men in terms of the scoreline.

Yet saying that, ‘comfortable’ is exactly the right word to describe Blackpool’s second 45 minutes, right up until stoppage-time anyway. It was only deep into added time where their goal came under threat.

Otherwise the second-half felt a little flat, for want of a better word, despite Blackpool getting into some promising positions in the final third on a fairly regular basis.

Other than a couple of openings for Bowler and Madine, the second-half was otherwise a very stop-start affair with Hull players seemingly going down and requiring medical treatment every five or 10 minutes.

But the five minutes of stoppage time were anything but pleasant for Pool fans, who would have been hoping and praying not to see a repeat of Wednesday night’s gut-wrenching finish against Middlesbrough.

It so nearly happened though. In almost identical circumstances, too.

Against Boro, Demetri Mitchell was guilty of some poor decision-making by attempting to beat his man in his own half rather than clear the ball away to safety.

On this occasion, it was Jerry Yates. Only this time Grimshaw managed to get his teammate out of jail by making a stupendous stop to deny Tyler Smith at the back stick. It genuinely looked easier to score for Smith, who could barely have been three or four yards out.

If that wasn’t dramatic enough, Grimshaw made another frankly ridiculous stop in the 95th minute, charging out of his goal with his arms and legs outstretched like a prime Peter Schmeichel to deny Randall Williams.

As soon as the full-time whistle blew, there was a palpable sense of relief as, almost to a man, every outfield player ran over to Grimshaw to congratulate him – or thank him, perhaps.

As Critchley observed post-match, it should never have got to the point where Blackpool required their goalkeeper to make two superhuman saves to hold onto a result, because the game should have been put to bed by that point.

Blackpool’s game management wasn’t much better than it was against Boro in midweek, but on this occasion they got away with it. That won’t always be the case though.

But that’s a concern for another day. Right now, we can all sit back, take a huge sigh of relief and rejoice in a much-needed win.

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