The Brett Ormerod column: Blackpool face a battle to keep great run going at Accrington

Blackpool are improving all the time. I was at the game against Oxford United at the weekend and I thought they did enough to win that as well.

They were the better team and were just very unlucky, with CJ Hamilton hitting the post and the crossbar.

At the end, Chris Maxwell pulled off an absolutely worldie save to make sure they didn’t lose the game, which is important.

Yes, they were disappointed not to win but sometimes you just have to make sure you don’t lose.

To then go and back that up by beating the league leaders in their next game was fantastic and momentum is now building.

Blackpool have beaten some top teams in recent weeks – Hull, Fleetwood Town, Portsmouth and Peterborough United. All of those teams are going to be there or thereabouts.

It just shows you that Blackpool are capable of beating the best this league has to offer and that bodes well for the remainder of the season.

Consistency is the key but right now they’re doing that as well and putting a great run together, with the Doncaster Rovers game being the only slight blip.

But even in that game Blackpool played very well in the first half – it was the second half that cost them.

It’s looking really good for them right now and if they can have a good Christmas period they won’t be too far away at all come January and early February.

Blackpool were due to travel to Sunderland next week but that’s been postponed for a second time because of a Covid-19 outbreak.

That’s a shame because Blackpool are on a winning streak and will be wanting to play every few days.

Neil Critchley has got a big enough squad to cope with the busy schedule and opposition sides will be wary of Blackpool right now. No-one is going to be looking forward to playing them.

It’s Accrington Stanley this weekend and I’ll be covering that game for the radio, which I’m excited about.

Accrington don’t have the budget Blackpool have but John Coleman is a wily old bird, who has been in football for a long time. Time and time again he seems to pull these gems out of non-league.

Considering their budget, he’s built a really good team and a great team spirit. The one thing about John’s teams, and I’ve seen a lot of them over the years, is their work rate.

You have to outbattle them if you’re going to beat them and that’s very, very difficult. They don’t give you an inch or a second on the ball. They’re in your face and do a 90-minute shift, so it won’t be an easy game for Blackpool by any means.

Who knows if Stanley can sustain this for the whole season? But they’re within touching distance of the top two with games in hand, so they’ll be delighted.

They had a month off because they had a lot of Covid cases, but they seem to have come back even stronger and have put together a magnificent run.

If they win their games in hand they’ll be right up there, but it’s a big ‘if’ with a good five months to go.

Blackpool and Accrington are two of my old teams and two I have a lot of affection for. I hope they both do really well.

I’ve done quite a bit of radio commentary this season and I really enjoy it. It keeps me in football.

BBC Radio Lancashire give me a list of games at the start of every month and ask which ones I can do. I’m not pinned to it – it’s quite a relaxed thing. If I can do them, I will; if I can’t, I won’t. But I really do enjoy commentating on the football.

I’ve been doing a lot of the Blackpool games with Ian Chisnall. I’m told some of the fans enjoy what we do, but last time I did it I knocked over a brew and it went all over his equipment. He wasn’t too happy.

But I just say what I see and I do enjoy it. It’s fantastic for me to see the games.

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