Blackpool go nap in a goal feast

This was an extraordinary game, highly entertaining for the neutral as they say, and very satisfying for the Blackpool fans who sat through a goalless draw in the last home game. Once again the closeness of this division was demonstrated as Blackpool, who were well beaten by Charlton only six weeks ago, scored five and could have had many more. The attack was on top at both ends and while both managers talked about defensive errors in truth it was the speed and accuracy of the forwards which created so many goals. Blackpool are still a long way from being mathematically safe, of course, but after a game like this it is hard to take the possibility of relegation seriously.

Blackpool made a number of changes from the team well beaten at Ipswich last week. Evatt and Crainey had both recovered from injury, but Michael Jackson has a torn hamstring and will be out for at least four weeks. So Crainey replaced Hills in defence, and Gorkss came in for Jackson. Up front Grayson had decided to drop Burgess to the bench and started Dickov and McPhee together. This was an experiment I had hoped to see - while Burgess works hard his presence seems to mesmerise the team into playing nothing but long high balls up to him, and this has been a pretty sterile tactic. Without his height Blackpool would be forced to pass, run and shoot, playing much more to their strengths, and so it proved.

After the obligatory long hoof from the kickoff, giving the ball straight away, Blackpool settled down to use their skill. When a target man was needed Taylor-Fletcher did well, and both Dickov and McPhee were winning their fair share of the balls dropping to them, by good positioning and strength. At the same time their speed was causing the defence all sorts of problems, they can both turn very quickly, and Dickov is nearly as good as Hoolahan at taking the ball and controlling it (and far better at shooting). While Blackpool had more of the pressure in the first ten minutes, Charlton came closest to scoring. Andy Gray was put through up the middle - he looked clearly offside but nothing was given, and he was clean through on Rachubka. The Blackpool keeper came out well at his feet and managed to block the shot away for a throw.

Blackpool it was, though, who took the lead a few minutes later. It was another good move forward, with inter-passing between Dickov and McPhee in the middle, before McPhee slid the ball out to Hoolahan on the left wing. He got around the back of the defence and struck a hard low ball into the goalmouth. The keeper parried and Jorgensen tried a reflex shot, but it rebounded off a defender and rolled out towards the edge of the box in the middle. Here McPhee met it, striking a hard low ball which flew through the crowded goalmouth, hit the inside of the left hand post, and deflected into the back of the net.

It was a well taken goal, and Blackpool continued to press with Hoolahan, Dickov, McPhee and Taylor-Fletcher all working together well, and Jorgensen in particular looking to link up from midfield. Evatt too seemed to have put a pair of winger's boots on today and several times made forays forward, though it is a little like an elephant trying ballet. And in the event it was his centre-back partner who was to make the next breakthrough, after a McPhee header was blocked for a corner. Hoolahan struck it hard and low into the area where Dickov controlled, turned and shot. The keeper did well to get an arm to it and the ball looped up about thirty feet into the air. The wind had been making high balls hard to judge all day, and this one, instead of going over for a corner, was dropping a few yards out and wide of the left hand post. Before it landed Gorkss swung his foot at it and connected with a perfect volley which drove the ball horizontally through a small gap between the defenders and into the back of the net. It was an extraordinary piece of technique and left Gorkss as Blackpool's joint leading scorer.

This might have looked like a cushion and some fans began to jeer Pardew, but those who remembered the two-goal lead against Hull were not complacent, and they didn't have long to wait. Three minutes later Evatt slipped as he went to control a routine ball in the centre of the park, and one of the Charlton players nipped in. The ball was quickly played out to the left winger, whose pace caused problems all game. He took it to the line and then played a ball on the ground across the goalmouth and beyond the far post to an unmarked Ambrose. The angle was very tight but he struck the shot well, just inside the post, and Rachubka could only half block it as it flew into the net. This was bad, but worse was to come almost immediately. On their very next attack Charlton had a long throw from the right, which reached the penalty spot. It was headed out a few yards and fell to Ambrose who was in space in the area, and struck his shot instantly into the roof of the net.

Blackpool were rocked back by this but they recovered quickly and the rest of the half was fairly even, with Blackpool having the better chances with a couple of headers for the big men from set pieces. Dickov and a defender got into a tussle at a corner but the referee settled for a lecture for them both, and from the kick Gorkss seemed to be about to get a clear header at the far post, but he could not quite get the angle right, so the half ended all square.

After the break Blackpool were attacking the open south end, where the blustery wind had made things especially hard for defenders. Charlton had made a substitution, taking off Andy Gray, who had done little, and bringing on Iwelumo, but the early pressure was all coming from Blackpool. Dickov and McPhee were operating all across the pitch, giving the defenders a hard time, and Taylor-Fletcher was constantly making things happen up the right wing. McPhee showed his class and pace as he made a little space in the box and went outside his man before shooting for the far corner, bringing a fine save from the Charlton keeper. At the other end the left winger pushed the ball past Evatt and ran towards the box, but Crainey was lurking in the centre and at the perfect moment he dashed in for a neat saving tackle. Then Blackpool created another passing move up the middle, ending with Dickov taking the ball into the box and around the defence on the right. He turned towards goal and fired in a shot, the keeper was able to block it but Taylor-Fletcher was there to knock the rebound in.

Blackpool kept pressing, and only a couple of minutes later they were rewarded again. The ball was played up the right hand channel to McPhee, who turned cleverly on the edge of the box and went forward. He was dispossessed but Dickov contested the loose ball with the defence as they hesitated, and he was able to scramble it past the keeper and saw it roll slowly into the goal.

The Blackpool attack and midfield were full of confidence now as they knocked the ball to each other, flicking it on and running for the return pass with energy. There were uncertainties in defence as Charlton continued to apply pressure, but Gorkss and Crainey in particular did well. Another attack developed up the middle and was played out to Taylor-Fletcher on the right, at the corner of the area. Hoolahan made a good run outside him to make an option, but Taylor-Fletcher turned back towards goal, and then chipped the ball over the keeper towards the far post. Whether he meant it as a shot or a pass only he knows for sure, but it was a perfect lob in the event, dropping just under the bar in the corner of the goal.

The game being (apparently) won, Grayson began to rest players, taking off Dickov and Taylor-Fletcher for Morrell and Green. Morrell fitted in immediately, it was his sort of game, but Green did not look too comfortable. And Charlton were not finished, as they proved a couple of minutes later. A corner from the right was not cleared and a forward found a little space to fire home from about ten yards. Almost immediately after the kickoff Blackpool played the ball up to Morrell, and he slipped a lovely ball through the defence to set McPhee running free up the left. He turned towards goal and as the keeper came out he shot past him, but the ball slid tantalisingly outside the right hand post. Charlton were still trying, and after another scramble in the box Crainey managed to block a shot and allow Rachubka to drop on the loose ball. Soon after Rachubka saved well, low to his left, to keep out a dipping shot from range. Burgess came on for Hoolahan for the last few minutes and added some height to the defence, and in the end the two goal cushion remained at the final whistle.

This was great stuff from Blackpool in attack, and thoroughly entertaining too. Both teams can look at their defences, but the windy conditions - and the speed and skill of the attackers - contributed a lot to that. There is no doubt that the shape of this attack, with small fast skilful players buzzing around the defence like wasps, is far more effective for Blackpool, and I hope we will be seeing more like this in the future.

Team (4-4-2): Rachubka, Barker (Capt), Evatt, Gorkss, Crainey, Taylor-Fletcher (Green 72), Southern, Jorgensen, Hoolahan (Burgess 85), McPhee, Dickov (Morrell 72)

Subs not used: Gerrard, Hills