Perfect response, flowing football and backs against the wall: Matt Scrafton's verdict on Blackpool's heroic win against Blackburn Rovers

Pool’s head coach was incandescent at his side’s failure to put the struggling Tigers to the sword in midweek, having squandered a goal and man advantage with just 10 minutes to spare. It’s been a long, long time since we’ve seen him that angry.

It was Blackpool’s laboursome second-half display that irked him the most, which makes their supreme first-half display against high-flying Blackburn Rovers, who were sixth prior to kick-off, all the more impressive.

Critchley clearly wanted a response from his players and he wasn’t disappointed. They played like they had a point to prove right from the off, taking just four minutes to open the scoring.

Some of the football they played in the opening half was a joy to behold. The passing was confident and the movement was slick and purposeful. This wasn’t possession for possession’s sake.

The hosts played through the thirds almost at will, slicing through a Blackburn side that were left chasing shadows.

Tony Mowbray questioned why his side were so poor during the first 45 minutes in his post-match interview, but he was also at pains to stress the Seasiders deserved all the credit.Once the second goal went in, the confidence was oozing through the team. So much so, 36-year-old Richard Keogh waltzed forward from back to front with a mazy run. No wonder the ground was bouncing.

The Seasiders initially struggled with the transition to a new style at the start of the season. They were punished time and time again as they looked to pass the ball out from the back and were wide open when opposition teams countered on them.

Now, they’re far more intelligent when they have the ball at their feet and whoever is in possession always seems to have at least two, if not three options available to them.

Critchley’s tactical acumen and the manner in which his players put his game plan into action was absolutely key in the first-half. Two could quite easily have been three or four.

But in the second-half, the men in tangerine needed to show a whole different side to their game.

With Shayne Lavery hobbling off after just 22 minutes with a worrying hamstring injury, that is sure to keep him out of Northern Ireland’s upcoming internationals, Pool were dealt a further blow when Keogh was replaced at the break complaining of a groin issue.

Fifteen minutes into the second-half, things went from bad to worse when Chris Maxwell became the third and final player to trudge off, having tried in vain to run off an injury to his quad.

Suffering three injuries during a game is bad enough on its own, but the fact they occurred to Maxwell, Keogh and Lavery – arguably Blackpool’s three most important players at the minute and certainly the spine of the team – just rubbed further salt into the wound.

Blackburn emerged a far more potent side after the break and took just five minutes to reduce the deficit, 10-goal Chilean (yes, you read that right) Ben Brereton-Diaz proving why he’s such a sought-after striker by firing home from Will Buckley’s cross.

Any other run-of-the-mill side would have wilted at this point. But that’s just not Blackpool.

A number of players were dead on their feet come the final whistle, one or two in particular slumping to the floor.

It’s difficult and perhaps a little unfair picking out individuals when it was such a team collective that got them over the line.

But if I can highlight Dujon Sterling, for ploughing on and delivering a masterclass at right-back after going down with what appeared to be a heavy knock, when Blackpool had already made all three changes.

And then there’s Gary Madine, who hadn’t started a game in eight months prior to last week’s game against Hull.

Chances are, the striker would have got another 60 or 70 minutes under his belt to help build his fitness back up. Unfortunately he didn’t quite have that choice.

The 31-year-old led the line superbly all afternoon and his hold-up play and the way he brought others into the game was a major factor behind their first-half success.

The fact he could barely walk off the pitch come 5pm was the perfect metaphor for Blackpool’s heroic, backs-against-the-wall, bodies-on-the-line display.

And how heartening was it to see his strike partner Jerry Yates finally notch his first goal from open play this season?

The 24-year-old nodded home from virtually on the goalline to make a perfect introduction to the game, his goal coming just two minutes after he had replaced the injured Lavery.

There’s no getting away from it, Yates has played second fiddle to Lavery so far this season. But this goal should do his confidence the world of good.

Blackpool’s second started with a sublime cross from the livewire Keshi Anderson, picking out Gary Madine at the back post who was denied by a flying save. Yates was there to pick up the pieces.

Anderson, who has enjoyed a strong start to the season over on the left wing, had earlier grabbed an assist for Lavery’s early goal, picking the striker out in acres of space in the Blackburn box before the Northern Irishman’s low shot took a wicked deflection and looped up into the far corner.

Lavery, who now has seven for the season, will be a big miss should he still be sidelined once Blackpool return from the upcoming internationals.

Speaking of which, since the last international break, Blackpool have taken 13 points from a possible 18.

When you’re enjoying such a strong vein of form, you want the games to keep coming thick and fast.

But because of the injuries, this international break might just well be coming at the ideal time for Critchley’s troops, who have only lost one of their last six.

Either way, the Seasiders find themselves in a really good position at the moment. Long may it continue.

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