I only just made this game having finished work really late so it was a mad dash to pick the young un and then head off to Hillsborough. We got to Hillsborough with about 5 minutes to spare, in and to our seats just as the players were coming out.

It wasn’t a big crowd and as usual, Blackpool didn’t bring many over the Pennines but the few they DID bring were quite vocal at times, on a night that made you want to conserve energy for keeping warm and on a night where they had very little to cheer.
              

              
Before kick off there was a minutes applause for Corporal Liam Riley, as mentioned in the Forest Ramble, the lifelong Wednesday fan was killed in Afghanistan last week and this was a chance for the home fans to pay their respects to the lad. The team wore balck armands and Captain Darren Purse laid the flag with his name on it in front of the players at the centre circle…the applause was a warming moment on an horrible, cold night and was heartfelt and from every corner of the ground, including all the Blackpool fans who stood and applauded, kudos to them and all of our thoughts and best wishes are with Liams family.
              

              
We sat down, we battened down the hatches…got the scarf into position, gloves on, hat down over the ears and almost touching the scarf, so I was looking through a letterbox….no sooner had I settled in than we were on our feet and my fight against the cold had lost it’s first battle….

The play is down our left and Varney gives the ball back to Tommy on the overlap who comes slightly inside and it looked for all the world as though he’d tried to take on one too many but just as the crowd were about to collectively shout ‘OH FFS! TOMMY!’ the youngster carried on his run and regained control of the ball, he got almost to the touchline and whipped in a cross, there to meet it was the gazelle known as James O Connor at the very peak of his jumping prowess and the top of his arc to nod the ball home… A couple of minutes gone and we were leading…and the crowd…trust me, you could fookin feel the anguish when everyone thought Tommy had lost the ball…now all on their feet jumping for joy…..and warmth.

  Chuff me Tommy….I’ve got to reset me ‘keep out the cold’ gear now….Scarf up, hat down, nestle into seat….

Tommys face though after we scored, his huge broad infectious beaming smile lighting up the night all the way back up the pitch as he looked to his family in the stand pumping the air. He was full of it after that too, he was into everything and did very well.

To be fair to Blackpool I thought they played pretty well from that moment. They didn’t get phased, they just set about their task again as though nowt had happened and they had the lions share of possession. They dominated midfield but they had absolutely nothing up front. Any time they DID have a go our defence were more than equal to the challenge.

As much as Potter and O Connor tried to wrestle the midfield control Blackpool weren’t willing to let it go and I was really impressed with how hard they worked to get back into the game. Euell was particularly impressive…when he stayed on his feet. A few times players lost their footing and Euell more than most but I liked what I saw of him here.

About halfway through the half the weather took a turn for the worse and some kind of snow/hail/rain/sludge type shit came down and seemed to making a B Line straight for us…it wasn’t enough for us to be fookin freezing, we obviously needed to be wet as well. Not only did it drop right on us on the front row but we got the after-drips from the roof as well…I wasn’t best chuffed I can tell ya.

There’d also been little to warm us up on the pitch either since that goal, though there was an orgasmic cross field pass from Tom Soares that was worth the entrance fee alone…it led to a half chance but no better and that was it really…
              

              
If Blackpool could have just settled up now, we could have agreed on a 1-0 scoreline and all gone home to get warm…they weren’t having any of it though and they eventually came out for the second half.

Bastards!

I had thermal gloves, thermal socks, thermal undies and I was fookin freezin!
Me fingers were cold, me toes were cold, me thighs...ME FOOKIN THIGHS WERE FREEZIN AND WET!
              

              
It did seem to take a long while for the teams to come back out...COME ON YA NANCIES! Get back out!....

Once they did come out it looked as though Irvine had got them fired up again as Potter went very close with a wicked drive that looked as though it’d taken a deflection as well but the Blackpool keeper still managed to get to it….the ball dropped loose but there was no one following up anyway…great start, good save…That was just a warning shot from Potter though as a few minutes later he got a ball from Varney and showed really good, quick feet to leather a shot inside the far post….excellent stuff. Great bit of skill and with his left foot too, the keeper had no chance. It really was superb goal and I can't wait to see it on telly, see if it's as good as I thought. Up we got…jump, jump ya bastard, get that blood circulating again…Oh yeah we cheered and what have you but most of the jumping about was simply to keep warm… Now if we could score another at say 4 minute intervals that would be very welcome…

More wet shit came down and we got even colder…an old bloke walked past us, Tango like…topless…FFS! You daft owd bugger…You’ll end up in hospital!

I snuggled into me coit and scarf…

From that second goal though we took control of the game…all over the pitch players were starting to play a bit and we started to get a grip of the midfield now with O Connor doing his usual graft but Potter hunting for everything and wanting to be involved, the goal had really lifted him….and STILL, on the rare occasion Blackpool did break through our defence were incredible…OK, OK, so Frankie was drifting at times and other times he looked like he’d stumbled onto the pitch by accident but as a unit the four of them did very well. The two centre halves, Purse and Beevers were as good as we’ve seen them. Two games in a row now they’ve played very well together and it’s lovely to see.

Like Blackpool in the first half though, for all our possession we couldn’t make it tell and we didn’t have anywhere near enough shots on target really. However the team were working hard and getting stuck in.

Blackpool did rally late on and really went for it, kudos to them for having a go and not laying down, even at 2-0 down and only minutes to go but our defence would not be denied their first clean sheet in months and they also threw everything at it. When the whistle went it brought us another valuable 3 points, it brought us a well-deserved and hard earned victory with 2 good goals but maybe most importantly it brought that clean sheet. Granty, Purse and Beevers were having a right love in once that whistle went, high fives and some proper man hugs going round.

I looked over at Soares and he was dead on his feet.
I know a lot of folk don’t like the lad or don’t see what he brings to the side but I really do like him…He’s been out a while and not played first team football in ages so he’s getting his fitness back with every game. He looks a little overweight but that’s changing every week too, or seems to be anyway…he’s playing out of position and having to learn he has different responsibilities, he needs to help his full back out with defensive duties and AGAIN, THAT TOO is coming along, but every time I see him now I see more and more of that ‘touch’ coming back. That bit magic he had when he first appeared on the scene at Palace. I hope we get to see him fully wound up back to something like his best before he goes back. As it is, even with all his faults he still put in a shift tonight and played himself to a standstill….he isn’t the only one that will enjoy this little break over the weekend.

It wasn’t a night conducive with good football but we DID see some and both sides did very well IMO to show so much commitment and effort on a truly horrible night.

More valuable points and another very good performance for the new manager and as much as I enjoyed the football I saw, as much as I really did enjoy watching a pretty good tussle, proper Championship football….all I could think about was getting back to the fookin car and wazzin that heater on full blast….it took ages to thaw out…we sat in the car park, in the car with hats, coits and scarves on for half an hour before we moved an inch…
              

              
ROLL ON THE CHUFFIN SUMMER!

Cheers
Steve:Beastie
Owls Alive