Blackpool Flying High After Beating Eagles

The Seasiders recorded a fantastic victory today at Selhurst Park, as they overcame Crystal Palace with just ten men. Paul Rachubka was sent off in the opening three minutes, but a penalty from DJ Campbell after 41 minutes gave Blackpool a much needed three points, which looks set to give caretaker boss Tony Parkes the job full time.

Blackpool (4-4-2):
Rachubka
Baptiste – Barker – Evatt – Coid
O’Donovan – Fox – Marshall – Vaughan
Campbell – Taylor-Fletcher

Crystal Palace (4-4-2):
Speroni
Hills – Hill – Fonte – Butterfield
Moses – Carle – Derry – Oster
Kuqi – Lee

The game couldn’t have started any badly than it did for ‘Pool – Paul Rachubka was sent off after three minutes for bringing down Shefki Kuqi outside the box after a poor backpass by Ian Evatt. This saw debutant Paul Marshall taken off for Matthew Gilks to make his league debut in tangerine, with GTF dropping back to centre midfield alongside David Fox.

Sub goalkeeper Matt Gilks made some very smart stops from Kuqi since – Shaun Barker having a great game at centre back despite being injured twice in the opening 45.

Tony Parkes’ side took the lead with four minutes to go in the opening period when Roy O’Donovan was brought down in the box and DJ Campbell sent Speroni the wrong way to give the away side the lead.

Crystal Palace made changes at half time, but were never really very penetrating despite their numerical advantage.

Neil Warnock’s men were reduced to shots from long range, which invariably ended up in the stand.

DJ Campbell could’ve made the afternoon even sweeter for The Seasiders but his effort from ten yards out found the wrong side of the post when you would expect him to do better.

The Eagles’ supporters showed their fury throughout the second half, with Danny Butterfield and John Oster taking the brunt of the abuse.

Tony Parkes’ men never looked flustered, and brought Joe Martin on late on, replacing David Vaughan, just before Brett Ormerod entered the fray for the impeccable DJ Campbell for his second debut for The Seasiders – both getting a stand ovation from the 671 travelling support.

Crystal Palace did have late pressure on Gilk’s goal, but couldn’t carve out any decent chances – that threat went when Shefki Kuqi was taken off.

So, Blackpool won a game they really would never imagined doing after three minutes to boost their chances of survival; a fantastic result to end a fantastic weekend, with Norwich, Doncaster, Southampton and Plymouth all drawing, as well as Watford, Charlton (thanks Bumley!), Barnsley, Nottingham Forest and Coventry all losing. The only blot was Derby winning against Cov.

We sit in 15th; the gap between Blackpool and the relegation zone is now seven points – brilliant.