MATCH OF THE WEEK: Saturday's clash at Bloomfield Road between Blackpool and Hull City, which will herald the start of the Nationwide League Division Three campaign - a new chapter in the Seasiders' history on a ground that - for the time being at least - resembles a building-yard.
Saturday August 12th 2000 - Blackpool 3 Hull City 1 
News by Jonathan Lee - Full House!
BLACKPOOL'S opening day clash with Hull is set to be declared a "sell-out" after Seasiders supporters raced to snap up tickets for the big kick off.
Fans are set to be locked out of Bloomfield Road for the first time in recent memory after the first day of Pool's promotion bid captured the imagination of the Blackpool public.
All seat tickets have already sold out. And paddock tickets are also on course to be bought up before the big game which has been designated an all-ticket match.
Hull have already sold out their 1,940 allocation. And having sold out the South Stand seats, Pool have just 800 south paddock tickets and 550 east paddock tickets left.
Ticket office manager Gary Webbe confirmed the game is on course to be a 6,100 full house. "If we carry on selling tickets at the rate we have been doing it will be a sell-out," he said.
It is set to be the biggest Bloomfield Road crowd for three years at a first home game of the season. And that despite Blackpool being in a lower division and having only half the ground open.
In the previous two seasons Pool attracted just over 5,000 fans for their first home games against Wrexham and Oldham. Not since Luton's visit in 1997 when 6,547 turned up have they topped 6,000.
Meanwhile Blackpool boss Steve McMahon was today busy trying to strengthen the squad in time for the first day clash.
McMahon vowed he would add new talent after seeing his side flop in their final warm-up game at Southport on Saturday.
News by Steve Simpson - All Hull Let Loose!
And the campaign is the first acid test of Steve McMahon's managerial mettle at the club.
He was in no-lose situation when he arrived at Bloomfield Road in January, clutching the short straw in his hand, which he had drawn after Nigel Worthington's departure.
No-one blamed him for Blackpool's ultimate fall through the trap-door because the almost universally accepted school of thought was that he arrived too late to make any difference - and if he had kept the Seasiders in Division Two, he would have attained almost miracle-worker status in the eyes of the fans.
There was so much to queer his pitch last season - now he's on level playing-field with ever other Division Three manager, most of whom are working on a limited budget.
Looking at the moderate, overall standard of the Third Division, there is NOTHING to get flustered about, and McMahon will see to it that complacency won't come into play, realising that there is a long job to do.
Amid all the gloom and despondency of last season, there were glimmers of hope - they staved off defeats in matches against the top two, Preston North End and Burnley, while they beat Gillingham, the team that went up via the play-offs, at the Priestfield Stadium.
They also held Wigan Athletic at home, so there were signs of promise amid the under-achievement that was their undoing.
Working out the permutations in the pre-season are often as fraught and hard to follow as the hair-style of George Reynolds, the Darlington chairman, who has set challenging Arthur Scargill-type standards in tonsorial techniques.
Reynolds, now a multi-millionaire, is a reformed safe-breaker, but his Quakers' side, favourites for this season's title, failed to crack it last season after making it to the play-offs.
They are priced at 4-1, which looks extremely short, skinny odds, given that there has been much upheaval at the Feethams during the summer - Marco Gabbiadini, who is always guaranteed to score goals, has left, along with manager David Hodgson, the unproven Gary Bennett taking over.
Goals will be the key to going up - and if Blackpool pair John Murphy and Brett Ormerod can strike up a profitable understanding, they have as much potential for finding the net as any in the division.
And here's a hard-and-fast prediction - either Cheltenham or Kidderminster Harriers, the two newest Nationwide League teams, will go up.
Cheltenham, ably steered by manager Steve Cotterill, took time to find their feet, but came within hailing distance of a play-off spot.
Kidderminster, managed by ex-Anfield hero Jan Molby, are the unknown quantities - but could become the surprise packets.
Molby has surrounded himself by people imparting sound advice, and the latest recruit as player-coach is Welsh international midfielder Barry Horne, who was thought good enough to play at Sheffield Wednesday by caretaker boss Peter Shreeve last season.
The Third Division this season is packed with a lot of hard-bitten, seen-it-all-before journeymen professionals, with many of the teams much of a muchness.
There won't be a lot of teams with stand-out performers with the capacity for the unexpected.
The clubs that have such players - and, most of all, one or two promising youngsters - are the most likely to succeed.
Match reports from John Secker and Jonathan Lee.
It looked for a long time at Bloomfield Road this afternoon as though Blackpool intended to pick up where they left off last season. We were only convinced that change may really be on its way when the home team did something they never managed at all last term - kept the pressure on right to the end of a game, and snatched a result from under the opposition's noses. No doubt the result flattered Blackpool, on the balance of play overall, but they finished much the stronger of the two sides, and that was very rarely seen last season.
The side which turned out for Blackpool this afternoon had a very different look from the one which played most of the pre-season friendlies. Hills, Jaszczun and Wellens were all absent from the squad, and two brand new signings, Steve Hawe and Paul Simpson, started the game, presumably having been introduced to the rest of the Blackpool players in the changing rooms beforehand. As a result the team struggled to play coherently in the early stages, and you could see them getting a better understanding as the game progressed. Let's hope that this means they will gel during the coming weeks, and produce football which will stamp their mark on the Division, because you could not say this about today's performance.
Caig was preferred to Barnes in goal; the back four was Coid, Hawe, Hughes and Murphy (Neil), with Simpson, Collins, Milligan and Bushell across midfield and Ormerod and Newell up front. The early exchanges did not favour Blackpool, with Hull getting the first corner, and the first shot - a soft effort from the edge of the box which Caig caught easily. No part of the Blackpool team was communicating well - the most likely area was the left wing, where both Coid and Simpson showed a desire to run at the defence, but a couple of promising efforts came to nothing. Blackpool's defence was still shaky, and on the quarter hour they nearly gave away a goal identical to the one which finished last season, Chesterfield's equaliser. A long ball was bouncing up the centre of the field, with a defender and a Hull attacker after it. Caig and the defender hesitated and failed to deal with the ball, and the forward nipped in to lob it over the keeper, but fortunately this time the ball also cleared the bar - just.
The referee had already shown himself to be a poor official, and soon after this he made another bad decision. Coid broke down the left and put over a good cross to the near post, where Ormerod met it with a header, which was blocked by a defender's arm at close range, but both referee and linesman gave nothing.
Blackpool had more chances in the next few minutes. On the right Newell won the ball, and played it to Bushell who put a cross over. It went beyond the goal, where Collins chased it, kept it in and played it back to Simpson. He hit a curving shot which beat the keeper, but unfortunately also beat the far post. Again Newell won the ball over on the right and put in a deep cross, and Collins met it with a header from the edge of the box, but it was well wide. Later our first corner, from the right, gave Hughes a chance in the air, but he also misdirected his header and we were nearly caught at the back as Hull broke quickly.
Soon after the half hour the deadlock was broken. Ormerod, who had been drifting over to the left wing on occasions, was given a pass which took him just into the corner of the penalty area, wide on the left. He controlled the ball and turned, then when we were expecting a cross he drove the ball high and wide past the keeper and into the net. It was a great goal, and he was obviously delighted, showing the crowd the name on his jersey, to let is know that Ormerod is back.
Unfortunately Blackpool have not lost all their old habits, including lack of concentration and a problem with crosses. Straight from the kickoff Hull pressed and won a corner on their right. When the cross came over, Caig failed to catch it, and the defenders also failed to deal with the ball as it rattled about in the area, until eventually a Hull forward rammed it into the net. Our first lead of the season had lasted just one minute.
The rest of the half passed without much event, though Hull looked the better side on balance, and the second half began in much the same way. Neither side were able to take control of the game, but Hull were certainly having more of the chances. Several times they were able to run free, especially wide on their left, and there were a number of occasions on which they should have put in a telling shot. However this is the Third Division, and the forwards are also a class poorer than the ones we were playing last year, so our mistakes went unpunished. Blackpool were struggling, too, with the offside trap - the linesman watching our forwards was particularly harsh, and for some reason he switched ends at half time, so we were stuck with him all game. Two more decisions went against us during this half. First Brett, chasing a ball well out on the right of the area, was bundled over, but the referee gave nothing. Maybe he thought Ormerod was not going to get to the ball in time, but that's not the point - if he was fouled, then it was a penalty. A little later, after a nice couple of passes on the edge of the Hull area, right of centre, Newell played the ball forward to Bushell, who rifled a shot past the keeper - but that linesman, again, gave him offside.
Blackpool were starting to look a little better, and Hull were not getting so many chances. Soon after the hour Clarkson was brought on for Milligan, a straight swap which didn't make a huge difference. Then with eleven minutes to go, Newell was replaced by Murphy, to loud applause. Blackpool still had to survive a tricky moment, when the ref gave a free kick close to our area, right in the middle, but the attempted curler was very high and wide.
With five minutes left the increasing pressure Blackpool were exerting paid off. Coid was fouled, wide on the left, level with the penalty area. The free kick was a good one, low and hard across the face of the goal, and big John Murphy was there to get the vital touch and deflect the ball into the net.
Once again it was only a minute before another goal came, but this time it was Blackpool, putting the last nail in Hull's coffin. A ball up the middle came to Ormerod, who won it and raced forward. As he did so Simpson picked the ball up and ran clear into the box. Faced with the advancing keeper he kept cool and slid the ball neatly past him and into the goal.
There was no coming back from this, and although Hull had a couple more attacks there was nothing which looked like causing a problem, and the final whistle went to ecstatic applause from the home fans. It could have been very different - if the whistle had gone five minutes earlier we would have been bemoaning a poor result - but the team kept going right to the finishing line, and they took their goals with a confidence which was lacking in everyone but Gill last season. It is too soon to be making any serious predictions, but I would say that Hull showed us today that we will need to work hard if we hope to bounce straight back up. However if the players can get to know each other and fit together well then I think we do have the makings of a promotion side, especially when the missing players are back in the squad.
Team (4-4-2): Caig, Coid, Hawe, Hughes (Capt), N Murphy, Simpson, Collins, Milligan (Clarkson 64), Bushell, Ormerod, Newell (J Murphy 79)
Subs not used: Barnes, Jones, Thompson
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John Secker
WHAT a start … or should that be what a finish!
by Jonathan Lee - Evening Gazette
Pool enjoyed the perfect opening day thanks to a rousing two-goal finale which left a packed Bloomfield Road buzzing.
Seasiders supersub John Murphy had only been on the pitch five minutes when he met debutant Paul Simpson's cross with a brave diving header into the bottom corner to put Pool 2-1 up with just five minutes left.
And 60 seconds later it was all over as the impressive Simpson capped a fine display by calmly tucking the ball left-footed into the opposite corner, having been fed by Brett Ormerod on the break.
The Tigers, who had bared their teeth with an attacking first half show which threatened to spoil Pool's opening day party, left with their tails between their legs.
But Blackpool knew they'd been in a battle - and the fact they were pushed all the way proves that bouncing back to Division Two at the first attempt will be no easy task.
Hull were the better side in the first half, creating more clear-cut chances, with John Eyre in particular squandering several.
Eyre clipped the ball over the bar when clean through and bearing down on Tony Caig after eight minutes, shot straight at Caig when well-placed nine minutes later and blazed high over from ten yards out three minutes before the interval.
The Seasiders only came to life in flashes, mostly from the boot of Simpson.
Whether he was cleverly switching the play to right-back Neil Murphy or inspiring left-back Danny Coid with his solo runs, Simpson was a positive influence throughout.
Blackpool did have two good chances before the half hour. The first fell to skipper Ian Hughes, who had another solid game at the back, but when his chance came he showed exactly why he's only got two goals in 103 appearances!
Simpson's corner delivery was inch-perfect, picking out the Pool captain towards the far post. But rising unchallenged, Hughes got his angles, and his header, all wrong to send his effort well wide.
The second chance was even more glaring. Its creation owed a lot to debutant centre-half Steve Hawe's defence-splitting pass, which allowed Coid to get in round the back.
Coid whipped in a great ball; Ormerod could only make half- contact with his head because of the attentions of the defence, but when the ball rebounded to Mike Newell, just a couple of yards out by the left-hand post, a goal looked the only outcome.
Instead Newell contrived to hook his effort wide, summing up what would ultimately become a miserable match for the eventually substituted front-man.
But if it wasn't to be Newell's afternoon, there was no doubting the joy for fellow Seasiders striker Ormerod, who penned his perfect opening day script with his first senior goal for more than 10 months.
Twelve months ago, Ormerod scored a first-day double which gave Pool three points against Wrexham. And we all know what happened after that - Ormerod suffered a double broken leg; the Seasiders got relegated.
When he was lying distraught in his hospital bed in Wycombe, I told him by way of a pep talk that I wanted to be there when he next scored for Blackpool. I'm glad I was! It was a corker.
Steve McMahon jokingly described it afterwards as "a good cross".
Even Ormerod himself admitted he didn't intend it the way it turned out when he shaped to hit the ball from the left edge of the penalty area.
But, to quote Barry Davies, "who cares!" when the result is the ball drifting beyond the despairing dive of Hull keeper Lee Bracey into the top right- hand corner of the net. 1-0.
Of course, considering that Ormerod's first-day heroics last season were hardly the portent for a great campaign to come, we should have known not to get carried away.
Only a minute later - it was a match in which all four goals came in 60-second doubles - Hull were back on level terms after Pool failed to deal with a right-wing corner from Seasiders old boy Lee Philpott.
Twice Hull had efforts blocked on the line before right wing-back Mike Edwards lashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. 1-1.
Hull fans tumbled onto the pitch in front of the east paddock. It was just the sort of flashpoint to ignite the 1,900 travelling fans on a muggy afternoon which the police could have done without. But thankfully order was soon restored.
The second half saw the Seasiders jittery at the back. Hughes, Hawe, and Murphy all had to make last-ditch tackles, and keeper Tony Caig had a couple of unconvincing moments which threatened to let in the visitors.
With 13 minutes to go, there was a rare moment of quality in a stalemate of a second half. Bushell and Lee Collins worked a lovely one-two on the right edge of the box, Bushell volleying the looping return into the net only for the linesman to flag offside.
It seemed Pool's chance of picking up all three points had come and gone, but if last term's ten-goal top scorer John Murphy is to reach his 15-20 goal target this season, we might have known he planned to get off the mark soon.
And so it proved, substitute Murphy hardly having a touch before stooping to head home Simpson's set-piece, leading to the latter sealing it with his debut strike 60 seconds later.
All smiles in the dressing room afterwards - none more so than that man Ormerod, whose grin could have stretched from here to Accrington Stanley!
"It's a great feeling to score again. I just got it down. I didn't hit it cleanly, to be fair, because if I had it would probably have gone over the bar! But it just looped into the net, so I am happy as Larry.
"It's good to get a goal but, as I said before, the main thing has got to be the three points.
"We struggled at times. I think we were a bit nervous. It was a shaky start, but we've got a good three points and we can build on that now.
"It does a lot for our confidence. It looked like it was going to be a draw and we're just glad to get the win. I'm chuffed to bits!"
Fellow front-man Murphy was also delighted to get the ball rolling on the first day: "I was just happy we got the points.
"It doesn't really matter who scored - it's just a bonus that I got one for myself.
"It was a great ball from Paul Simpson. He's put a few great balls in. It's obvious he's got a bit of quality and hopefully he can keep providing it.
"The ball was coming over and it didn't half dip. I thought I could get my head kicked in, but I just got my head to it and thankfully it has gone in.
"A goal and three points is a great start. We know we didn't play the best but we've got the win and confidence is sky high.
"It was a carnival atmosphere and it turned out to be a carnival for us in the end."