Que Sera Sera…

I’ll start this match report with something that I’ve not told anyone until now. On the way home from the Bristol City game, we drove past a bungalow in my village. Now, we’ve driven past the bungalow countless times, but for the first time that day I realised the name of the bungalow: Que Sera. I haven’t mentioned it to anyone until now for fear of tempting fate, but for me, it was certainly a sign of what was to be.

I could make this match report as long as my dissertation, but I won’t. Anyone who’s a Seasider saw/knows exactly what happened last night and many of them have already expressed their joy far better than I could in this report, so I’ll just provide you with a brief recap.

We lined up with exactly the same starting XI and subs as Saturday, whilst Forest brought Rob Earnshaw into the side for Paul Anderson.

Upon seeing the teams, I remarked that Earnshaw would give us problems, and after just six minutes I was proved right as he gave Forest the lead, sweeping the ball clinically past Matt Gilks after an Alex Baptiste mistake.

Baptiste endured a torrid night in all honesty and was at fault for all three goals, but did make a brilliant tackle on Earnshaw to prevent him from doubling Forest’s lead early doors.

Blackpool were dominating possession, but struggling to create any out and out chances as Forest got men behind the ball. Brett Ormerod and Charlie Adam came mightily close with thunderbolts though.

At the other end Forest were looking dangerous, and as the half time whistle blew, I remarked that whilst we were dominating, Forest could easily hit us on the break and kill the game off.

And they nearly did that in the opening monents of the second half, but Rob Earnshaw’s goal was ruled out for offside. Billy Davies’ face was a picture.

If you read my posts on the forum pre-match, you’ll have seen that I was advocating Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Brett Ormerod down the wings to help support our full backs, and DJ Campbell through the middle where I felt that his pace would see him get the better of Wes Morgan. Futhermore, he’s our best finisher, and in games like last night, you need to take your chances.

And to blow my own trumpet, I was proved dead right on 56 minutes when DJ got clear of the Forest defence and sent a perfect finish beyond the onrushing Lee Camp.

Ten minutes later though Forest levelled the tie again – Rob Earnshaw smashing home from close range after more poor defending.

Ian Holloway then made a brilliant change, sending Stephen Dobbie on for Brett Ormerod. The effect was immediate: Dobbie striking home from the edge of the area via a deflection that wrong footed Camp.

From there, the Seasiders finally made their dominance tell, but not before Matt Gilks made an incredible double save to keep the Seasiders ahead in the tie.

Dobbie and DJ linked up beautiful before DJ scored with another cracking finish, and just minutes later DJ completed his hat-trick, tapping home after Dobbie’s shot had been parried.

DJ nearly added two more, but was denied first by a brilliant tackle and then by the crossbar. Forest added a consolation at the end through Adebola after another mistake at the back, but it didn’t matter: Blackpool were at Wembley. Need I say more? No. Enjoy it folks!