Blackpool 0 Yeovil town 1 - FA Cup Round 2, Att, 3,757
Can't Score - Can't Win
John Seckers Match Report (10th December 2000)
Blackpool dominated most of the game this afternoon, against a Yeovil side who were clearly not the same class, but as soon as they approached the opposition box they showed that they still have no idea how to score. They had more attacking opportunities than I can remember, but a combination of poor approach work, poor finishing and a couple of good saves meant that for a second week running we came away empty. And also for the second week the defence made an error which was punished, so we are out of the Cup and, to use the well-worn cliché, we can concentrate on the league. In my opinion what we need to concentrate on in training is scoring, because no defence can keep everything out forever - we should have won today about 6-1. Blackpool brought back skipper Ian Hughes for this afternoon's FA Cup (sorry - Axa Sponsored FA Cup) match, which meant that the formation reverted to 5-3-2, instead of the 4-4-2 which was played at Rochdale. The start was delayed a minute or two while stewards popped the hundreds of balloons which had been set out on the pitch in front of the Sky cameras. Nice idea, chaps, but you didn't think it through. Once the game got underway you could see straight away that there was a gap in class between the teams, especially in man-to-man situations. Murphy will never win so many balls in the air as he did today, and the midfield and attack found themselves able to run or pass the ball through the defence much more than usual.
Yeovil certainly had some individually skilled players, especially up front, but Blackpool were clearly better. They should have turned this advantage into several goals within the first fifteen minutes. The first good chance came with a free kick, a little left of centre 25 yards out. Simpson took the shot, which clipped the left end of the wall and swerved along the ground towards the goal, but the keeper got down well to save. Next a cross from Hills on the left fell into the box and rattled around for a few moments, with no-one able to get a shot in. The best chance of the half came next. Both Ormerod and Murphy were doing well winning the ball in competition with defenders, and this time it was played up the right to Ormerod, who beat his man to the ball and left him in the mud. Ormerod was now clean through, running at the keeper from the right, just like he did at Rochdale, and the result was only slightly different. Instead of rolling it wide, as he did last week, he blasted it high over the bar. The chances continued to come. Hills broke away down the left, and into the box, but he crossed it straight to the keeper. A corner from the left gave Murphy a free header as he jumped well above the defence, but he only got a glancing contact when he needed a solid one. Another corner from the other side gave Ormerod a chance, but he did not jump high enough and he got under the ball. A cross from the left bobbled about in the goal mouth, then rolled out to Collins, who had plenty of time to pick his spot as he ran in, but he too blasted the ball high above the goal. During all this, Yeovil were not overawed, and they continued to press forward when they could. Generally the defence handled them pretty well - most of the occasions when the ball came into our box arose from the long throws of one of the Yeovil attackers.
It is noticeable that Blackpool really don't know what to do with a throw-in in an attacking position - a long throw always puts the defence under pressure. If we can't train one of our players to have a reasonably long throw, we should at least plan and practice a number of set pieces, so people know what is going to happen when we get a throw up front. The most dangerous moment in most of the first half came from a Blackpool attack, as one player after another failed to find an attacking option, and passed the ball across or back. Eventually we made a mistake in the mud and an attacker went running free, wide on our left. O'Connor made a clumsy challenge, bringing him down, and was booked - only the fact that the play was so wide saved him from a red card, in my view. As the half drew to a close Blackpool had another golden chance. Again it came from a forward, Murphy this time, hustling a defender off the ball and breaking clean through into the box. Again the keeper came out, and Murphy shot straight at his body. The ball rebounded out, and we had another couple of half-chances, but the danger was cleared. Soon afterwards, at the Blackpool end, a cross came into our box from the left. Several defenders could have cleared, we had at least three chances to do so, but nobody took charge, and an attacker picked up the ball. He was on the corner of the six yard box, and he was able to turn and fire in a good shot past Barnes and into the goal. The whistle went soon afterwards, and Blackpool went in for the break with a lot to think about.
The story of the second half was very much like that of the first - Blackpool dominance for long periods, which was not turned into anything positive on the scoresheet. Most of the activity came up the left, where Hills and Simpson, and sometimes Collins and Ormerod, linked up again and again to put someone in behind the defence. Usually it was Hills, but from all those chances we had not one serious shot. Sometimes the cross went to the keeper, sometimes to a defender or too far beyond the goal, but never to an attacker. This is not all Hills fault - there were rarely many attackers to aim for, often just Murphy. One of Blackpool's big problems is that we don't have anyone whose natural habitat is the penalty area, either up front or in midfield, people like Ellis or Wayne Gill. Ormerod and most of the midfield like to create things outside the box, and Murphy is essentially a target man.
Even when the shooting chances came, they were spurned. Simpson beat two defenders and got into the box, but he tried a chip which floated well over. Ormerod bustled past a defender, chasing a ball just left of centre into the box. He arrived at the same time as the keeper and defender, and the ball bounced nicely for him out of the melee. He lifted it over the defenders across the face of the goal, but it bounced outside the far post and away. If there had been anyone following up it would have been an open goal. Bushell was injured in a challenge and had to go off, replaced by Clarkson. Even before he went off, the right wing had been most unproductive for Blackpool. That didn't stop us using it, and again and again the ball was played forward to Coid who would take it, dribble, turn away and eventually play the ball back and across midfield. For all the effort we put in up this wing, there were virtually no useful crosses resulting all game. At the other end Yeovil were always willing to try, but their chances were few and far between. They did have one excellent opportunity to put the tie out of Blackpool's reach, when a bad backpass put the centre- forward clear with only Barnes to beat. The forward shot as Barnes came out, and he managed to get his foot to it and divert it around the post for a corner.
Blackpool lost their way a little in the middle of the half, but in the last twenty minutes, with the arrival of first Clarkson and then Nowland (on for O'Connor) they put the pressure on again, but still without success where it mattered. Another nice move across the pitch saw an angled ball taken by Hills at the corner of the area, and beating his man he fired in a low drive which the keeper saved very well. In the last few minutes we had two free kicks outside the area, which Simpson took. The first one he drove into the box and it was blocked, but it fell to Clarkson only a few yards out. Murphy was also close and may have got in his way, but in any case the shot was poor and was turned away for a corner. The second kick was advanced ten yards for dissent, so again Simpson drove it low, but a defender got his body solidly behind it and cleared it rapidly upfield, where Blackpool were lucky not to give away another goal. Frantic efforts in injury time gave us two or three corners, but the headers resulting were never going to test the keeper, and the final whistle blew on another defeat for the Seasiders at the hands of a team which should have been well buried. No doubt McMahon will argue that we played well and were unlucky, but there is more to it than that. Yeovil deserved to win this game, because although Blackpool had the better of both halves, when it mattered the visitors put the ball in the net, and the home team failed to do so. If Blackpool have any money to spend (which they don't, it seems) I am in no doubt that their only priority has to be someone who can score regularly. If they cannot strengthen the squad in this way, then they have to spend time and effort instead, working out and then training for ways of turning positional advantage into goals.
Team (5-3-2) Barnes, Coid (Thompson 91), Hills, Hughes, O'Connor (Nowland 81), Reid, Bushell (Clarkson 59), Collins, Simpson, Ormerod, Murphy
Subs not used: Kennedy, Newell
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John Secker
