Blackpool Need A Win

The Seasiders welcome Alex McLeish’s Birmingham City to Bloomfield Road for the first league match of 2009, and ‘Pool hoping to end a run of winless games.

You have to look back to the beginning of last month for the last Blackpool victory (2-0 vs Charlton) and Tony Parkes will be desperate for his first three points as caretaker boss.

And The Seasiders know all about beating The Blues. St.Andrews was the scene of Simon Grayson’s best away win whilst at the helm – Gary Taylor-Fletcher scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win.

But since then the team have been terrible inconsistant. November was a terrible month, and despite some brief restbite with wins against Charlton and Plymouth, December wasn’t much better.

However, the new loan signings of Owens, Campbell and O’Donovan should fire up a depleated squad. Having said that, ‘Brum’ haven’t exactly been slow in the transfer window. They have new boys Hameur Bouazza and Scott Sinclair in their squad. Lee Bowyer won’t be available after joining the club on Thursday.

Blackpool Team News:

‘Pool are likely to hand debuts to Graeme Owens and striker DJ Campbell. Roy O’Donovan has signed on-loan from Sunderland today, and could feature.

GTF is set to take his place on the bench after suspension, and Rob Edwards is edging closer to full fitness. Ian Harte is facing a fight on his hands to stop Joe Martin replacing him at left back, whilst Stephen Crainey won’t be risked.

Player to watch: DJ Campbell

The former Brentford striker may not be very prolific, but as he’s playing against his old team and it’s his first game for his new club, it looks as if DJ is a banker to score!

Birmingham City Team News:

Sinclair and Bouazza are likely to be on the bench, whilst Bowyer isn’t in the squad.

Seb Larsson (groin) is a doubt. David Murphy and Keith Fahey are banned but Kevin Phillips (hip) can play.

Last season it was Phillips who came off the bench and scored twice for WBA to overturn a 1-0 defecit to win the game for Albion.

Player to watch: Kevin Phillips

As alluded to above, Phillips’ recent exploits against ‘Pool cannot be ignored. Although it’s likely he’ll start on the bench, as soon as he comes on, I’d guess there will be a hush which decends on Bloomfield Road.