As Pool helped kick off the Football League season against a confident Hull City I’m sure I wasn’t alone in having some trepidation at what lay in store for us. The first 20 minutes did little to dispel that fear as the Seasiders gave the ball away cheaply and found it difficult to settle but the spirit in the side slowly began to emerge in a half rounded off when Kevin Phillips struck the outside of the post. Pool came flying out of the traps in the second-half but Hull continued to expose our defensive frailties which had proved so costly back in the Premier League. With a point beckoning the Seasiders saved their best move of the night just ten minutes away from the final whistle, GTF laying off the ball to Billy Clark who flicked it back beautifully over the City defence for GTF to let fly a truly unstoppable half-volley beyond Gulacsi.
It completed a good night’s work and a hugely welcome three points which has given everyone an unexpected lift and whilst the game exposed our current strengths and weaknesses overall it was a fantastic result. The Carling Cup matched a Wednesday reserves side against the rest of our squad who did not play in the previous league game and despite the defeat on penalties Pool totally dominated the game having 22 shots against Wednesday 7.
On Sunday Blackpool entertained the Posh in our first home league game at what for the home fans was a sell-out Bloomfield Road and the first since the painful relegation from the Premier League last season. The loss of three influential players and a series of lacklustre pre-season displays had brought us all back down to earth with a bump but with season ticket sales topping 10,000 the fans haven’t drifted away and are looking to Holloway to mount another challenge on the Championship. Of course this team has now changed. Some have gone including all the goalscorers in the double win over Posh the last time the teams met. Others will step up to the plate. The conversations about Holloways transfer budget will doubtless take an interesting twist - throwing money around has never been our style, but the truth is that we are far better placed now than we were two years ago. That two years has given us memories beyond compare, and for that I am enormously grateful but I'm looking forward to the new season loads of new players; the luxury of not being the novelty item wherever we go. It's going to be very enjoyable and I'm genuinely excited to be returning to league in which I feel we can challenge.
Our keeper and defence look solid we've not lost any players in this department and we've got plenty of squad cover as was seen at Sheffield Wednesday just how good they are is difficult to gauge based on last season. The midfield is of concern whether we can replace our two best players Adam and Vaughan is a big ask and what I've seen so far it's going to be very difficult. Barry Ferguson comes with some quality and we know that Southern won't let anyone down if he's allowed to play to his strengths but the big question is where does the spark come from? Up front, the only player I'm happy about is Gary Taylor-Fletcher scorer of that wonderful effort in the opening match, and Kevin Phillips has been signed to be a leading striker but it's a gamble although young Matt Phillips could be a real star player for us and would make an appearance this weekend after appearing for England u-20’s.
On Sunday after both sides had previously played last season outside the Championship they met once again at Bloomfield Road and one interesting fact that emerged despite all the huge changes in personal that have gone on at the Seaside over the Summer is that Blackpool would still call on seven players who previously completed the double over Peterborough in 2010. Credit to Peterborough who helped produce a lively entertaining game and Kevin Phillips took his goals like a man who knows where the net is – the first was a nice run and cross from the right by Alex Baptiste, found Phillips in the clear at the far post and there was no doubt. For the second, Gary Taylor-Fletcher made a strong run out of defence and up the field on the right, holding off a lot of pressure. He released Keith Southern who ran into the box and had a shot which was saved, but Phillips was there to clean up from short range with the loose ball. Goalkeeper Gilks made a couple of vital saves and whilst the defender Craig Cathcart made some good tackles but also several errors, one horror gifted Peterborough their goal totally against the run of play and made this game a lot harder for Pool than it really should have been. If Hull and Peterborough are anything to go by Ollie has not changed his attacking style of play and it will be interesting to see whether we have any potential to challenge. But at the moment, potential is all it is....
Possible Pool Team: Gilks, Batiste, Crainey, Cathcart, Evatt, Ferguson, Grandin, Southern, GTF, Ormerod, K Phillips. Subs Haltead, M. Phillips, Sutherland, Martinez, Clarke.
Peter Gillatt – It’s Not Orange, It’s Tangerine!
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