Time desperately running out for Blackpool as Bristol City compound their relegation fears

Second-half goals from Andi Weimann and Alex Scott handed Bristol City a 2-0 win in this sleepy lunchtime encounter in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

The Seasiders barely threatened Max O’Leary’s goal, other than one glaring miss in the first-half when Jerry Yates somehow failed to hit the target with the goal at his mercy.

Mick McCarthy’s side lacked both quality and confidence, while their lack of goals remain a huge concern - the Seasiders finding the back of the net just three times in their last seven games.

The result means Pool have now won just one of their last 19 league games, with the gap to safety - currently at six points - at risk of growing when the remainder of their rivals play their games this afternoon.

Mick McCarthy made just one change to the side that gained a valuable point against leaders Burnley last week.

Gary Madine came back into the side in place of Kenny Dougall, who dropped down to the bench.

Dougall is one yellow card away from picking up a suspension. Under FA rules, players that are shown 10 yellow cards up to and including the 37th EFL league match will be hit with a two-match ban.

Madine partnered Jerry Yates in attack, which saw Sonny Carey drop back into midfield alongside Callum Connolly.

Keshi Anderson didn’t make the squad despite making his return for the development squad in midweek, where he played 60 minutes against Preston, while Lewis Fiorini and Ian Poveda both missed out again.

Marvin Ekpiteta, Charlie Goode, Liam Bridcutt, Kevin Stewart, Tom Trybull, Shayne Lavery and Jake Beesley all remain sidelined by injury.

Blackpool’s injury woes deepened just 23 seconds in when Gary Madine fell awkwardly as he challenged for the ball by the touchline.

After being treated for three minutes, the striker briefly returned to the pitch before signalling he couldn’t continue, eventually being replaced by Morgan Rogers.

After the delayed start, the game’s first opening came the way of the hosts as Andy King poked straight at Chris Maxwell after stretching to reach Jay Dasilva’s deep cross.

Andi Weimann was the next Bristol City player to try his luck, this time with an ambitious overhead effort which he sent over the Blackpool goal.

Unenforced errors began to creep into Blackpool’s game, which allowed Bristol City - a counter-attacking side - the opportunity to use their pace on the break.

On one such occasion, Nigel Pearson’s side had a four-on-one in the final third but thankfully the Seasiders were able to desperately recover and force the ball behind for a corner.

With the pressure mounting, Pool were given another let-off midway through the first-half when Nakhi Wells was left completely unmarked from a corner, but thankfully his goalbound effort was well blocked

Ten minutes before the break, Jerry Yates produced a glaring miss to give Blackpool an unlikely lead against the run of play.

It came after the ball bounced over the head of defender Zak Vyner, leaving the striker one-on-one with goalkeeper Max O’Leary.

O’Leary second guessed Yates, going down early leaving Blackpool’s leading goalscorer with a simple tap-in into the back of the virtually empty net, but he somehow managed to steer wide of the post.

That proved to be the last action of a lackadaisical first-half in which Blackpool failed to register a shot on target.

A little surprisingly, the Seasiders emerged unchanged for the start of the second-half while Madine came out on crutches to sit among the substitutes.

Bristol City thought they had a decent shot for a penalty three minutes into the second period when Jordan Gabriel appeared to clip Anil Mehmeti as he surged into the box, but with Mehmeti not going down the referee opted to let play go.

Such was the sleepy nature of this lunchtime encounter, it was always going to take a moment of quality or a mistake for the deadlock to be broken.

Just before the hourmark, it was the former as Bristol City edged their noses in front with a sublime curling effort from Weimann. While Maxwell was at full stretch, he could get nowhere near the pinpoint long-range effort.

The Seasiders had actually started the second-half a bit brighter up to that point, seeing more of the ball and finally registering their first shot on target from Morgan Rogers, who tried his luck with a similar effort to Weimman - but unfortunately his powerful shot was straight at the keeper.

With 12 minutes left on the clock, Rogers was picked out in space inside the Robins box but his effort, which took a slight deflection, was comfortably saved.

To sum up Blackpool’s miserable day, substitute CJ Hamilton picked up the ball to take a quick throw-in before it had even gone out of play.

True to form, the home side went straight up the other end and scored - Alex Scott beating Maxwell with a low effort after Nelson’s weak clearance had fallen straight to his feet.

With one minute left on the clock, Blackpool finally carved open a chance for themselves as Hamilton picked out Sonny Carey who fired over the bar from inside the box.

Bristol City, meanwhile, missed the chance to rub salt into the wound in stoppage time when they failed to capitalise on some horror defending from McCarthy’s side.

TEAMS

Bristol City: O’Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Pring, Dasilva, King (Taylor-Clarke), Scott, Weimann, Sykes (Cornick), Wells (Bell), Mehmeti

Subs not used: Haikin, Wilson, Wood, Francois

Blackpool: Maxwell, Gabriel, Nelson, Thorniley, Thompson, Connolly, Carey, Bowler (Hamilton), Garbutt (Dougall), Yates, Madine (Rogers)

Subs not used: Grimshaw, Husband, Lyons, Patino

Referee: Darren Bond

Attendance: 19,070 (407 Blackpool)