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Bara ‘pools’ it off!

Last updated : 30 November 2002 By Rob Davies

Sir Stanley
I wonder what Blackpool legend, Stanley Matthews, would have made of this match. Two sides at different ends of the table yet not that much difference in the way they played and the performances they gave. Both sides were pretty average but committed.

I arrived in Blackpool to rain and wind blowing in off the North sea, not the most welcoming of conditions but it could have been worse I suppose!

Half of the Bloomfield Road ground has been redeveloped into a modern new Stadium the other half still looks like it is a 60’s time warp. The stand the Notts fans were housed in was one of those less glamorous sides of the ground. It had wooden flooring and paint peeling off the girders the held the roof up. The only slightly modern part was the seats; even they looked like they had been through some rough times.

Notts fans made a lot of noise for their team and that was helped by the brilliant acoustics and the wooden floors which were great for stamping on!

Notts starting line up had had 4 changes to it from the one that lined up to face Colchester last week.

Garden was left out and replaced by Mildenhall, Caskey was suspended after his red card at Southport and both Ramsden and Whitley were injured.

When the match started it was soon clear that Blackpool had some quick lads and closed us down very quickly when we had the ball. Which was then the cue from Notts to start thumping the ball up the pitch to no one apart from the Blackpool defence who just sent it straight back again.

In the early stages we didn’t seem to be able to put 5 passes together and only created 2 real chances in the first half. One when John Ashton was unable to scramble the ball over the line following some dodgey keeping from Blackpool. Then Allsopp and Heffernan shot wide.

After just 11 minutes though, Michael Brough was taken off because he had injured his ankle in going for a challenge. YTS lad, Willis

Got Blackpool in the lead
Francis made his debut for the magpies as he came on for Broughy.

Blackpool got the first goal of the game on 21 minutes when Clarke headed home after good work by Martin Bullock.

HALF TIME: 1-0

In the second half Notts improved on their first half performance. Neither side really tested each other’s ‘Keepers. Mildenhall did all right in the Magpies’ goal, commanding his area and more confident coming out for the ball than last season. His distribution was, however, a bit suspect at times.

A belter
On 71 minutes, youngster Francis was brought down just out side the Blackpool box. As usual free-kick specialist Darren Caskey was suspended Ian Baraclough took responsibility and proved that there maybe competition for free-kick takers when Caskey comes back. He sent the dead ball screaming into the Tangerine’s net.

The Magpies held on for the remaining 20 minutes and claimed a point.

That makes it 10 draws out of 19 games for the Pies. But we have to win some of these games, because draws are getting us in as much trouble as defeats seem to be.

Bristol City on Tuesday, and I wouldn’t really fancy us to get a lot out of that one.