Winning at Loftus Road for the first time since 1972 was never going to be easy, but Blackpool earned it the hard way

Blackpool certainly did it the hard way on Tuesday night, buy boy did they earn it. They showed graft, determination and stuck their bodies on the line. But more importantly, they showed signs of what a Michael Appleton side is going to look like.

While we’ve seen glimpses in the opening four games, their display in the first-half was the first occasion where we’ve seen the pass and move football in full flow, the slick one and two-touch passing from Charlie Patino and Lewis Fiorini – more on them later, unfortunately – the swift passage of play from back to front and the intricate interplay, with the full-backs joining in high up the pitch.

But, and this probably says more about me than anything else, in a perverse way I took more joy out of their second-half display, where they had to remain dogged and soak up large swathes of pressure to hold on for a second win of the campaign.

Yet for all of QPR’s territory and pressure in the final third, they didn’t have a great deal to show for it and Blackpool dealt with it manfully. QPR boss Michael Beale admitted himself the Seasiders coped with it fairly comfortably.

Obviously when you’re in the thick of it it might not feel like that, because when substitute Sinclair Armstrong came off the bench for QPR it was one-way traffic for a good 15 to 20 minutes, or so it felt.

Yet on reflection, the best chances to score the game’s second goal fell to Blackpool, with Shayne Lavery and Theo Corbeanu squandering good chances to kill the game for good in stoppage-time. Thankfully it didn’t matter.

QPR, and Lyndon Dykes in particular, might feel they had more than enough chances to get something from this game. But after Saturday’s cruel heartbreak against Swansea City, Appleton’s side deserved this.

This wasn’t a smash and grab though, far from it. Blackpool more than played their part in front of the Sky Sports cameras, who must have a permanent station at Loftus Road given their love of all things QPR.

I’m glad I wasn’t watching on the box from home, because it appears Blackpool were barely given a second glance. Oh well, that makes the victory all the more sweeter.

During the first-half, we witnessed the type of football Appleton promised when he returned to Bloomfield Road for his second stint earlier this summer.

Fiorini delivered his best display in a Blackpool shirt to date, proving why he’s so well-regarded at Manchester City. He linked up superbly with midfield partner Patino, who has a canny knack of dropping the shoulder and driving into pockets, making things happen.

It was a huge shame then when the Arsenal loanee didn’t reappear for the start of the second-half after falling awkwardly on his foot, causing heavy swelling around the ankle.

Appleton’s misery on the injury front was compounded when barely 20 minutes into the second period, Fiorini was also forced to hobble off clutching his hamstring.

Losing the two orchestrators was always going to have an impact, because they were running the show at times during the first 45 minutes.

While QPR did have chances in the opening period, the majority of them came from Blackpool shooting themselves in the foot with some slack passes out from the back, namely Kenny Dougall losing the ball on the edge of the box, leading him to be dispossessed by Stefan Johansen. The ball fell to Dykes who had the goal at his mercy, with teammates also either side of him, but Dan Grimshaw came to Pool’s rescue. And it wouldn’t be the last time, either.

But Blackpool were rewarded for their good, positive play in first-half stoppage time when Josh Bowler (who else?!) slammed home at the second attempt after his initial shot had been blocked.

The story wrote itself, didn’t it? The winger was facing his former club just days after feeling compelled to issue a public apology after receiving some flack for his display against Swansea at the weekend, which wasn’t even bad in the first place.

While Bowler doesn’t take every chance he gets (if he did he’d be playing in Europe), people need to remind themselves how bloody mesmerising he is creating the opportunities off his own back in the first place.

In his first four outings of the season, Bowler has averaged four shots on goal per game. If he finishes with this type of conviction on a regular basis he’ll be hard to stop this season.

With something to hold onto, the second-half was about digging in.

While Appleton wants to make this Blackpool side a bit more progressive going forward, he’s at pains to stress they need to retain that defensive solidity that served them so well under Neil Critchley.

With three clean sheets in their opening five games, the signs are good on that one. And it really should be four shutouts, if we’re being picky.

It made for a tense watch and the clock ticked by painfully slowly. But fear not, Marvin Ekpiteta was a colossus, Rhys Williams produced the best display in a tangerine shirt to date, Dom Thompson was non-stop – on and off the pitch – even finding time to give some back to the home fans who were dishing out some abuse.

But this game wasn’t about individuals, it was about a heroic team effort to get over the line – and that’s what they did.

After back-to-back league defeats, Blackpool needed this. But with two wins out of four in the league and up to seventh in the table at this early juncture, it’s not all bad is it?