Blackpool 3 Exeter City 0 - Success at last
John Seckers Match Report (16th December 2000)
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The opening exchanges were undramatic - a Blackpool cross straight to the keeper, and some Exeter probing which was handled calmly by the defence. However after only three minutes Blackpool made the breakthrough which had eluded them over the previous two games. Coid won a free kick mid-way inside the Exeter half, out on the right. Simpsontook it, and put over a very good ball, curving towards the far post where two Blackpool players, Hughes and Reid, both went for it. One of them got in a header, which was stopped on the line, but Murphy was near to the loose ball and fired home from close range. Reid and Hughes were both hurt, a clash of heads I think, and though Reid was up quickly Hughes was treated for quite a long time, and the game restarted without him for a while. The pattern of the game would be familiar to anyone who watched Blackpool against Yeovil or Rochdale. There was quite a lot of activity up the right wing, but most of this come to nothing, resulting in a ball back or across midfield. The real danger came when Blackpool attacked up the left, and here we saw Hills and Jaszczun combining well, with Simpson coming across when needed, and usually the end result being Hills released to get a cross in. At the other end the defence were generally coping pretty well with Exeter's attacking, though there were a couple of very dodgy moments, when the ball broke loose in the six yard box, but fortunately there were no forwards on the right spot to shoot. Hughes was having a very good game, putting in two excellent tackles to smother potentially dangerous attacks. Barnes looked a little nervous, but he improved as the game went by, and in the second half he was pretty well faultless coming for crosses.
Blackpool had a number of chances which they did not convert - two crosses from Hills, and a moment when Collins took the ball into the area, but then shot well wide. Just after the half hour it was Ormerod out on the left. It looked as if the defender was favourite, but Ormerod beat him and took the ball inside the area to the by-line. He looked up and rolled the ball to the feet of Murphy, who placed it high and wide of the keeper's left hand, into the back of the net.
There was no let-up in the pressure by the home team, and a few minutes later Murphy came within inches of his hat-trick. An attack on the right was halted, and the ball swept across to Hills, wide on the left. He saw Murphy in the box and played a long high cross, perfectly placed. Murphy's header was a good one, but the keeper got a hand to it, and turned it up onto the crossbar. It bounced down, but no Blackpool player could reach it, and it was cleared. Exeter continued to have a very occasional attack, but the half ended with Blackpool clearly well on top. The second half began, with Blackpool playing towards the South end. The home pressure continued, and it was only about five minutes before it again led to a goal. A free kick was played in from the right, Reid headed it on and it came out to Murphy beyond the far post. He took it and turned well, and fired in a shot from an angle. It was saved, but the ball ran free in the centre of the goal, and Ormerod beat two defenders to it, and blasted in home from short range. Having scored two, Murphy had made the third - he had a very good game generally, getting involved across the whole pitch and in midfield, doing well on the ground and winning a lot of balls in the air.
Again and again Blackpool broke through down the left wing - although they were denied many times by a very harsh linesman, who seemed to have a special grudge against Hills. Both Hills and Ormerod had many chances to cross, but they were all played too close to the keeper, or were cleared by the defence. We could have had a hatful more if our midfield was better at coming through onto this sort of chance. As it is we typically have only one or at most two people in the box to aim for, and this gives the defence a much easier task. In the middle of the half there was something of a lull in Blackpool's pressure, and Exeter had a string of corners. However the defence dealt with them very solidly - most of them were caught by Barnes, and the rest were cleared. Hughes had gone off at half time, replaced by Thompson in a straight swap, but there were no signs of problems as a result. As the game went into its final quarter of an hour there was a slight air of unreality - it is so long since we have approached the end of a match with the knowledge that we were well in control. Blackpool stepped up the pace again, to their credit, and kept attacking right to the end. Hills had another couple of good runs into the box; on one of them he shot just wide, on another his cross eluded everyone. In the end the whistle blew and the crowd went home well satisfied.
Ormerod was Man of the Match, but you could have given it to five or six players without being unfair - Murphy, Hills, Reid, Simpson all gave excellent performances. It was also good to see the whole team playing together, combining the short passing game with longer balls wherenecessary, and breaking through the defence again and again. It would be nice to see our conversion rate improving, but I would much prefer to see the team create twenty chances and score three, than create three chances and score one. If we don't have any top class strikers, then the next best thing is to get the ball into the danger zone again and again, and eventually something will happen. Although today's opposition was not top class, this was one of the best performances we have seen this season, and the team and McMahon can take a good deal of pride in themselves.
Team (4-4-2): Barnes, Coid, Jaszczun, Reid, Hughes (Capt, Thompson 45), Collins, Clarkson, Simpson, Hills, Murphy, Ormerod
Subs not used: Kennedy, Bushell, Nowland, Wellens
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John Secker