Sixteen months ago Blackpool came to Boundary Park and conceded a late goal which condemned them to Division Three. This afternoon another late mistake destroyed what should have been a splendid recovery, leaving Blackpool with nothing from a hard afternoon's battle. The game was ruined by an appalling referee, incompetent, pedantic and lacking in judgement, but make no mistake - Blackpool were not robbed by the referee - they have only themselves to blame for their failure to take three points from this game. They dominated midfield, but they failed to create enough chances, and score from the ones they did create, and they were much too sloppy in defence.
The first thing which became apparent when the teams took the pitch on a cold day in Oldham (is there any other kind?) was that Phil Barnes was taking at least some of the blame for the result at Brighton, because the goalkeeping slot for this game was taken by James Pullen. In front of him Blackpool lined up with three central defenders - Hughes, Reid and O'Kane - and two wingbacks - Hills and Bullock. MacKenzie, Collins and Wellens were in midfield, with Murphy and Ormerod up front. Blackpool were playing very much a passing and running game, with MacKenzie in particular keen to run past players in midfield, and play short passing interchanges. This is not something we are used to seeing from Blackpool, and it was refreshing to watch. The only problem was that it was not connected to attacking moves into the box, so far too often we saw nice passing and running back and forth across midfield for long periods, but no pressure on goal. Both Bullock and Hills were playing rather too deep, which limited their ability to threaten around the back of the defence. This is understandable, perhaps, when playing away from home, but these are two of Blackpool's most dangerous players going at a defence, and they were not given their chance to do what they are best at until later in the second half.
Both teams struggled to put their mark on the game in the early exchanges, but it was immediately clear that Blackpool were intending to compete strongly with the home team, and had not come to defend for a point. A strong wind made accurate play difficult, and the referee soon began to demonstrate his somewhat bizarre view of the game, giving free kicks almost at random, and booking players (on both sides) for fairly ordinary tackles and very mild expressions of dissent.
Neither side made any clear chances in the early minutes, and as time went by, Blackpool began to dominate the possession, though they looked at a loss when it came to turning it into goals. Ormerod was not doing very much at this stage, though he did have a run into the box on the left side, but he couldn't line up a shot, and the ball was smothered out for a corner. From another attack on the left, MacKenzie took the ball into the area, threatening several times to shoot, but again the strike never came and the danger was cleared. Murphy was doing quite well getting knock-downs from the high balls, but he was doing nothing in the area. The best chance for the visitors in the first half hour came from a long clearance by Bullock. Murphy got to it in the centre, knocking it sideways towards Ormerod. The defender climbed all over Brett, but instead of going down he ducked and turned, leaving him clear and running into the area with the ball in front of him, right of the goal. I think he tried a shot for the far top corner, but it may have been an attempt at a cross - in any case it flew harmlessly wide of the far side of the goal.
All this time Blackpool were getting more and more in control - Oldham had one or two corners, but they did not have a serious strike on goal. Then, on the half hour, everything went wrong. It stemmed from another dreadful refereeing decision - a long ball was played up the left side, and the defender simply jumped on top of Murphy to head it upfield. Amazingly nothing was given, and an Oldham player broke up their right. A cross came over across the edge of the box, and Blackpool failed to deal with it, allowing a free shot to a midfielder running in; he fired in a rocket, low and just inside the post, giving Pullen no chance.
This was a blow to Blackpool, and it inspired Oldham, so that they put much more pressure on the visitors for the rest of the first half. They could have doubled their lead when a player broke into the box, right of centre, but Pullen advanced and made a good save. Blackpool carried on playing their passing game, but they could not get any penetration. Hills was playing much further back than usual, and when he did make one penetrating run behind his defender he was caught just offside.
The half time whistle went, and the visiting fans were amazed to see the pitch being heavily watered, by means of large pop-up sprinklers. The result of this was that for the first fifteen minutes of the second half, the ground played as if waterlogged after heavy rain, making control difficult, which of course affected Blackpool's style of play. It seems strange that a club is allowed to make such a major change to the conditions of the pitch in the middle of a game.
The match picked up where it had left off, with Blackpool having most of the possession, but making few openings. After twelve minutes Danny Coid was brought on to replace MacKenzie, and moments later came the flashpoint which changed the shape of the game. Coid was fouled, but the referee gave the kick against him. O'Kane picked up the ball in protest, which was quite understandable, but foolish given the petty nature of this official. O'Kane had already been booked in the first half, and when the pompous Mr Ryan decided to impose another yellow card for such a trivial offence, Blackpool were reduced to ten men.
For a while Oldham were on top, and they had several chances to sew the game up. One resulted in an excellent save from Pullen, after a forward got clean through, and there were also several shots which went wide when they should have been on target. As time went by you could see Blackpool realising that they were still in with a chance, and they began to get back into their tactical shape. Hills was pushed further forward, and Bullock began to run with the ball a bit more, resulting in a number of crosses, but none of them produced a strike. At one point Hills broke down the left and flighted a ball to the far post for Murphy, but instead of going for goal, the big striker tried to pass the ball back across goal, and it was cleared.
With about twenty minutes to go, it looked like Blackpool's luck had turned. A ball was played into the box on the right, Ormerod ran onto to it, and his legs were taken from him by two defenders - even poor dim Mr Ryan was forced to give a penalty. Up stepped Wellens (Murphy having failed at Brighton), but it was a poor shot, to the keeper's left but weak and not wide enough, so it was a simple save.
Blackpool could have been forgiven if their heads had dropped, but they did not. They were still allowing Oldham chances, but with a man short that was inevitable. Ten minutes after the penalty incident they finally got some reward, and a splendid goal it was too. Bullock collected the ball, wide on the right and deep inside his own half, and he set off on a run through the Oldham team. As he angled towards the box the tackles came more frequently, but he beat them all and kept going. Eventually he burst into the box, through three defenders, to be confronted by the advancing keeper. However, instead of shooting he slid the ball five yards left to Ormerod, who had kept pace with him, and was unmarked, and who now had the simple task of knocking the ball into an undefended net. It was an excellent goal, credited to Ormerod, but entirely due to Bullock's skill and persistence.
Blackpool were now on top, and looking to take all three points. A couple of minutes later Murphy had a chance inside the box, running in right of the goal with a defender, but he hesitated when he could have put in a shot, and the defender cleared for a corner. With five minutes left Murphy was taken off, replaced by Simpson, and two minutes after that came the final decisive moment. A long ball from the right up the middle found Ormerod running clear of his man. As the ball dropped to him, well outside the area, with the keeper advancing, he chose to try a first time chip, rather than taking it around the man. He hit it too hard, and the ball landed on the roof of the net. He should have done better, and Blackpool immediately paid the price. The goal kick went up the right, and Hills lost out in the challenge with Lee Duxbury, who ran into the box and placed the ball past the helpless Pullen into the net. Much huff and puff in the last few minutes, but Blackpool never really threatened after that, and the final whistle left them empty handed again.
There are some positive things to take from this game, notably the fact that Blackpool dominated possession for long periods, even when reduced to ten men. They have clearly trained hard using the new methods, and they seem to be working as far as they go. However there are still two big problems. The defence is liable to suddenly leak, and does not inspire confidence - Pullen came running miles out on several occasions, and was lucky not to concede a goal when he missed everything and left a forward in possession. The other problem is in turning the passing into good attacking chances. This should come from the wingbacks and Ormerod, picking up short passes outside the box or in the corners, and getting the crosses in. There was not enough forward running, until late in the game, and too many of the crosses were poor when they did come. This side has the potential to be very competitive in the Second Division, but there is a lot of work still to be done.