Blackpool's Championship memories: Peterborough United win gives Michael Appleton his first victory in charge

We’re at the start of December 2012 this week when a first victory under Michael Appleton came with a 4-1 win at Peterborough United as seen by WILL WATT…

Cast your minds back to Saturday August 25.

It was the day Blackpool demolished Ipswich 6-0 at Bloomfield Road to cement their place at the top of the Championship table.

Shockingly, it’s also the last time Pool won on a Saturday afternoon.

While you’d think a 6-0 win to send you top of the league will be special, it doesn’t come close to what this win against Peterborough would have meant to Michael Appleton.

You just got the feeling a little bit of doom and gloom was starting to creep in among Blackpool’s supporters.

Let’s hope Appleton didn’t take it personally, there was always going to be an Ian Holloway hangover.

Appleton isn’t the sort of character to be flustered by that. He’s not tried to live up to the personality of Holloway, the attacking flair or the unpredictability.

Instead, he’s worked on the basics.

While much will be made about the attackers, you have to say Blackpool look much more solid at the back under their new boss.

On Saturday Pool didn’t have it all their own way and it certainly wasn’t as one-sided as the scoreline may suggest.

For large periods of the first half Posh were the better side, with Pool struggling to cope with their movement in the final third, and their off-the-ball workrate.

In the end the quality shone through and, for the second Saturday running, Appleton’s substitutions made all the difference.

Posh started the day rooted to the bottom of the table after a dismal November, which saw them beaten on five occasions.

Blackpool were also looking to end a winless run, with Appleton picking up four straight draws since starting his tenure at a different spot on the seaside.

He opted for Wes Thomas in attack, handing him his first starting berth since arriving on loan from Bournemouth last month.

It was Thomas who had the first real chance of the afternoon.

Stephen Crainey overlapped well down the left, and his cross looped towards Thomas who failed to get a connection on the ball.

That chance was as good as it got for Pool in the opening 25 minutes.

Appleton looked less than comfortable on the sideline, the game far too open for his liking.

While the rest of this report will rave about Blackpool’s attackers, it was a huge contribution by keeper Matt Gilks which kept them in the game on 25 minutes.

Dwight Gayle’s reverse pass was raced on to by George Boyd, and just when it looked like the striker was set to pick his spot, Gilks raced off his line to beat the ball away.

As the game went on, and Peterborough still hadn’t managed to make their dominance pay, you just knew they’d regret it.

Around five or so minutes before the break, you could see the home side start to lose belief.

Blackpool kept the ball much better, got forward in numbers and controlled the tempo at the close of the half, and you just knew we’d seen everything Posh had to offer.

There were no changes at the break, and the first action point of the second half was a negative one for Pool.

Chris Basham, who has done so well in the holding role since breaking back into the side, was booked for a mistimed tackle on Mark Little.

Referee David Webb showed the former Bolton man his fifth yellow card in six games, which will see him miss next week’s trip to Crystal Palace through suspension.

It was a long ball by Basham which started the move for Pool’s opening goal.

He found Tom Ince, who burst down the left and sat a tempting ball into the six yard box where Thomas was to head his first goal for the club.

The opening breathed life into the Seasiders and totally knocked the stuffing out of Peterborough.

If there was any hope left for the home side, it was ruthlessly ended five minutes later.

Thomas, who looked a different player after his goal, burst into the box and was brought down en route to goal, a clear penalty.

Ince grabbed the ball and rolled the spot-kick into the bottom corner.

At this point it was only going to be a huge mistake, or a lack of concentration which allowed the home side back into the game.

On 70 minutes, the usually rock solid Alex Baptiste did both.

He took his eye off the ball and scuffed an intended back pass right into the path of Gayle, who capitalised by firing past Gilks.

Despite a lively five or 10 minutes from Darren Ferguson’s men, Pool showed their superiority and Appleton showed he has a golden touch with substitutions.

The manager introduced Nouha Dicko and Angel Martinez with 11 minutes to go, and it took just 60 seconds for the pair to combine to kill the game off.

Martinez played a one-two with Ince and the Spaniard threaded a superb pass across the six yard box where Dicko was on hand for the easiest of tap-ins.

Martinez has been so unlucky to find himself out of the side, and with Basham suspended next week, looks certain to start at Palace.

It was his ball which unleashed Ince for the fourth. The young forward raced on to the pass, cut in from the left and curled a delightful ball into the far top corner.

All in all, a big win for Appleton’s men and one which will give them so much confidence going into next week’s huge game.

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