Gaffers Gabber

On the back of the essential – and morale-boosting – 1-0 win against Yeovil at Huish Park, Simon Grayson was fairly critical of his side’s first half performance.

‘We were a little bit disappointed with the first half. We didn’t do the simple things well enough, we were a little bit sloppy. Yeovil are a decent team and had a go at us as you would expect, they were the home side. We didn’t keep possession well enough. We were clearing balls 20 yards rather than 30 or 40 yards to ease the pressure.’

Once again, words were said to the players at half time and they started the second half stronger than the first;

‘We had a few words at half time and changed it around and it worked very well. We dug in and did the simple things better. We became sharper and when the sending-off happened they dug in as a unit and worked ever so hard. The lads increased the tempo.’

Shaun Barker of course was sent off for a second yellow card after catching a Yeovil player with a flailing arm as he ran across the byline. However the referee’s decision wasn’t made until the Yeovil players intervened and effectively seemed to have made the decision for the man in charge – resulting in Shaun Barker picking up a one-match ban. The star right-back will now miss Saturday’s trip to Bradford, however he will be available for selection to face his former club Rotherham in the re-arranged game on the 27th March.

‘After the sending off, we kept the shape well, defended well, we shuffled across, people were getting headers and blocks in and they never really opened us up too much.’

The game itself didn’t have too many chances – Blackpool with the solitary chance, shot on target and subsequent goal in the entire 90 minutes. However Yeovil did threaten the ‘Pool goal.

‘I think it was Claus at the end who headed one off the line but you can always expect things to come into the box late on. We can deal with that. It was a great team performance. We are a decent team. We have said it all along. When we get opportunities to play it does suit us because teams have to come out at you and we can counter-attack and play some good football at times.’

Wes Hoolahan was re-instated into the starting 11 on Saturday in favour of Simon Gillett – possibly to pose more creative flair on the opposition. It was a move that eventually paid off for the gaffer…

‘It was good work by Wes for the goal. We switched him to the right and he cut inside. I thought he was going to shoot, it opened up for him but the wee man doesn’t shoot that often and he picked out the pass for Andy. It was a good finish. He has been outstanding.’

That is certainly true with regards to Andy Morrell. The striker joined from Coventry late into the transfer window and – while he was not an immediate mark on the goal charts – he has scored 13 goals this season and is now up there with Scott Vernon and Keigan Parker as the club’s top scorer(s). If he continues to score goals for the club – during a baron spell for Parker and Vernon – then he is well on track to be the club’s top scorer with the possibility of more than 20 goals this season.