Goals from Hayden White and Jack Redshaw were enough to give the Seasiders a victory against bottom side Crewe at Bloomfield Road.
The 3 points saw McDonald’s men climb out of the relegation zone and up to 19th, with that being the sixth game in a row unbeaten.
The game started fairly evenly with both sides having chances. Crewe keeper Ben Garratt was forced into action by efforts from Bright Osayi-Samuel, Mark Cullen and David Norris early on.
However Crewe had chances of their own. Brad Inman narrowly missed the target and David Fox forced Colin Doyle to make a decent stop.
The first big moment of the match came on 22 minutes when Mark Cullen put the ball in the back of the net after Garratt parried McAlister’s brilliant effort into his path, only to be judged offside by the linesman.
Pool had the ball in the net again before halftime, this time it was Redshaw who was judged to be offside after Cullen sent him through on goal.
Neither side looked to be doing enough to win the game and the half time whistle blew with the score at 0-0.
The Tangerines started the second half very well and Jim McAlister could have given his side the lead if it wasn’t for some great goalkeeping from Garratt. David Ferguson put in a brilliant ball and McAlister’s volley looked to be going in, only for Garratt to tip the ball away.
Redshaw was the next to have a big chance to give Pool the lead. Brad Potts sent him through on goal but his hesitation meant the Crewe defence could get back and block his effort.
The goal would eventually come on 64 minutes when Tom Aldred’s low ball across the area arrived at the feet of Hayden White and his first time effort took a deflection off James Jones and flew into the back of the net for his first senior goal.
The Seasiders could have added a second soon after but Redshaw’s effort on goal flew over the crossbar.
Crewe never properly threatened Colin Doyle in the second half and the win would be confirmed on 87 minutes when David Norris was brought down in the area with the referee pointing to the spot.
Redshaw would finally get his goal after sending Garratt the wrong way from the penalty spot and making the score 2-0.
Blackpool did exactly what they needed to and picked up the win against the bottom side to lift themselves out of the bottom four.
The next game at Bury will be tough but in Pool’s current form, there is again a cause for some optimism.
Hopefully the Tangerines can now start looking up the table and carry on the way they’ve been in the last six games.
Neil McDonald deserves credit for the way he’s trying to change things and whilst there is still a long way to go in securing stability, the job he’s doing is a good one.
