Wembley winner admits Blackpool were always confident of play-off final victory

With a spot in the Championship play-off final already secured, Pool watched Cardiff City and Leicester City do battle in the second semi-final.

Cardiff emerged victorious but they were unable to stop Blackpool’s ascent to the promised land as Ian Holloway’s men claimed a 3-2 win at Wembley.

“We had beaten Cardiff home and away during the season while Leicester had beaten us in both games,” Taylor-Fletcher told The Gazette.

“We all thought to ourselves, if it’s Nottingham Forest in the semis and Cardiff in the final then we’re going up. If it’s Leicester then it’s going to be tough.

“But we had that belief and we had the feeling that it was our time and fortunately that’s how it happened.

“The morning of the game, which was probably one of the biggest games I had played in at the time, I just remember waking up and there were no nerves whatsoever.

“I had my music on and I was dancing around my room getting ready. I just seemed so relaxed and chilled.

“Even when we got to Wembley, there were no nerves at all. When they scored, we had that attitude that we would go and score now. We never seemed to lose hope.

“That was one of the things that killed Cardiff. They went ahead, we came back, they went ahead and we came back again but then we went ahead. Unlike us, they didn’t have that belief to come back.”

Taylor-Fletcher, who scored Blackpool’s second goal on the day with a brave header, added: “The final was just typical of our season really with the drama, the goals and the entertainment. That was just us, wasn’t it?

“We weren’t great at defending but we could give everyone a game going forward, that was what our game was based on.

“We had the quality players at the back to be able to play how we wanted to.

“You used to see big Ian Evatt bombing forward on the overlap and Stephen Crainey joining in with the attacks – that’s just how we were. It was really good to play in.

“The feeling at the final whistle was brilliant.

“We had the connection with the fans. They knew and we knew the spirit was there and every player gave everything for the cause that season.

“The fans were absolutely amazing and we couldn’t have asked for anything more really.

“The parade back in Blackpool was special as well. My family were able to join me – my son was only two at the time but he was absolutely loving it.

“We had the player of the year do afterwards as well, so that was a good day of celebrations – a good few days, in fact.

“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years, it’s gone so quickly. You look at the players and not all of us look 10 years older, while some do.”