Scorers:
Blackpool: Spearing 84’(pen),88’. Tilt (90)
Bradford: Doyle 59’(pen). Payne 64‘
H.T: 0-0
K.O: 3.00 Saturday 08/09/18
Attendance: 4,393 (1,804)
Referee: Simon Hooper
Bradford manager: David Hopkins
Stadium: Bloomfield Road
Changes in the table: Blackpool move up to ninth and Bradford remain in 19th position on 6 points.
Form: WDD - WLL
Line-Ups:
Blackpool XI: Howard, Turton, Daniels, Tilt, Bola, Spearing, Thompson, Pritchard (McLaughlin), Delfouneso, Feeney (Nottingham), Cullen (Gnanduillet)
Subs: Mafoumbi, Heneghan, O'Sullivan, Sinclair-Smith
Bradford XI: O’Donnell, McGowan, O’Connor, Payne, Mellor, Knight-Percival, Wood, Colville (Gibson), Wright (O'Brien), Miller (Ball), Doyle
Subs: Kenworthy, Seedorf, Bruenker, Isherwood
It was Bradford who got the game underway at Bloomfield Road and initially they looked as if they were really fighting for their new manager. But, Blackpool began to display their squad belief as Bola worked the first opening of the game, shifting the ball onto his left foot, but saw his shot deflected behind for a corner in the 5th minute. Blackpool would then proceed to have 3 corners in quick succession with the first only leading to a second corner, the second seeing Thompson’s shot deflected behind and the final one leading to Delfouneso firing over the bar on the half volley. Blackpool were once again being wasteful, a story of their season so far.
In the 13th minute another chance would present itself, this time thanks to the willingness of Jay Spearing. The Blackpool number 8 burst forward and fed Feeney, but his shot was then deflected away for yet another corner. Blackpool’s best chance of the game would follow with Tilt meeting Thompson’s cross and heading narrowly wide after getting between defenders.
Despite all this Blackpool dominance, one has to commend the Bradford fans who really continued to get behind their team and new manager. But despite this, that Blackpool dominance would continue. In the 27th minute Daniels progressed to the edge of the area and fired in a right footed shot, however it was well over the cross bar.
Bradford were really struggling to put anything of note together here as their best chance came when Doyle saw his cross headed, without much power, narrowly wide of the target in the 38th minute.
For all the Blackpool pressure, they wouldn’t make it count before the break and would go in goalless and without reward. As it is so often seen in football matches, it is a game of two halves and one can be completely different to the other. Christ almighty was that correct for this match.
It would start conventionally enough, with Blackpool remaining in the metaphoric driving seat and looking threatening with Bola delivering a couple of brilliant crosses to the front post in the 47th minute to no avail.
Bradford had clearly been told to go in a lot harder in the second half, as their fouls began to tell, and both Miller and Wood entered the book and were treading on thin ice.
Bola was a real threat on the left wing, delivering crosses a plenty and one, in the 52nd it led to Blackpool’s best chance of the game so far. Bola found Pritchard who hit it first time, only to see O’Donnell save it brilliantly with his left arm. A chance that really should have been converted but was thwarted by some outstanding goalkeeping.
This was to be a turning point in the match as Bradford would then head up to the other end and win a penalty. Curtis Tilt brought down former seasider Kelvin Mellor in the area and the referee gave no hesitation when pointing to the spot and, as expected, Bradford made no mistake in taking the lead as Doyle smashed it into the bottom corner.
Just when you were thinking this was undeserved, Bradford then doubled they’re advantage in the 65th minute through Jack Payne as he drilled into the bottom left hand corner following a Bradford counter attack. In a dramatic turn of events Blackpool were suddenly 2 down out of nowhere and had a mountain to climb to even get on level terms.
Bradford were still underperforming, but the most important stat, goals, was well and truly on their side. In the 70th minute Thompson saw an opening and tried to find the top corner, but was slightly off target. 5 minutes later Blackpool would work an opening again but once again it led to nothing as Bola’s cross evaded everyone as it skidded across the face of goal.
So, the minutes continued to tick by and all hope seemed lost as Blackpool failed to score again in the 82nd minute. Jordan Thomson’s shot would be scrambled off the line and then O’Donnell would get back up to push Daniels’ follow up onto the bar.
But it would soon all change for Blackpool, very soon as Gnanduillet was clattered by O’Donnell one minute later and earned his side a penalty. It would be club captain Jay Spearing who took it and, by hammering it into the bottom corner, give Blackpool a plausible way back into this football match.
With this, Blackpool had hope and with what happened next Blackpool had further hope on top of that. In the 87th minute Blackpool had another penalty as Curtis Tilt was felled in the box and once more, the duty of penalty taker fell to Jay Spearing. He tried to firstly find the same bottom corner with this penalty in the 87th minute, only to be denied by the keeper, but on the follow up he made no mistake in making that net bulge. 2-2, with time to go yet and momentum on their side, Bloomfield Road was rocking.
So, when a ball was whipped in from the left for Blackpool, the whole stadium, in unison, held their breath. O’Donnell would spill it directly into the path of Tilt who would find the back of the net in the 90th minute. Against all the odds Blackpool had turned it around and condemned the Bantams to a third straight defeat.
A fist pump from McPhillips after the game displayed his passion and maybe this could be the result that helps him to get that interim manager's position to become a permanent one. Jay Spearing also displayed real spirit, bagging his first goals for the club and showing real professionalism in the way he went about the game as a whole. This will work wonders for the confidence of the squad but Blackpool still need a true goal scorer and if the rumours about Steve Davies are true, that is exactly what we are going to have.
MOTM - Jay Spearing
UTP
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