A trip to the seaside to see our side win again!

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      Blackpool                           Wednesday

When the fixtures came out way back during our infamous ‘barbeque summer’ of 2009 the prospect of a trip to Blackpool a few days after Christmas had some sort of bizarre attraction. I’ve been to Blackpool before for non-footballing reasons but both times it was high summer and even then it was a bit cold. So I figured a trip to Blackpool in midwinter would be some sort of badge of honour I could carry around with me forevermore.

Of course when December 28th rolled around the deep freeze had set in. Having boarded a rail replacement bus to Manchester with about a dozen fellow Wednesdayites, and got as far as Platform 14 at Manchester Piccadilly we were informed that the game had been postponed due to a frozen pitch. As the train pulled in half of us opted to stay in Manchester while the other half bizarrely opted for a day by the sea! A tour of Manchester’s best (and worst) boozers ensued and I can safely say for once an away day wasn’t ruined by a football match; although Fulham’s late capitulation at Chelsea was a minor blemish.
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With the re-arranged game set for a Tuesday night in mid-January I was pretty certain I wouldn’t be going so sent my ticket back and got my money back, ta very much Mr Oyston, see you next season when hopefully you will have opened a proper stand with a roof but will no doubt be charging £40 or summat daft.

However, with a new manager in place and following a cracking win at Barnsley on Saturday it seemed only right to make the trip after all. Danny had offered a lift before the Barnsley game and full of optimism and ale on Saturday night I duly accepted. Dessie joined us and we set off from Donny at 3pm, wary that the M62 might be a bloody nightmare.

Fortunately in Danny we had a driver who had the balls to stand up to a satnav which was determined to take us to Manchester. Each time it told us to turn off Danny turned up his nose at his satnav and carried on forth regardless. By the time we got to Bolton West services for a quick piss the satnav had accepted defeat in its attempts to derail our trip to the seaside and was duly turned off and put back in its box for the remainder of our journey.

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A quick word for Bolton West services, made famous by Peter Kay in 2000 and named the worst in Britain last year. An accolade it fully deserves with its urinals that overflow before you’ve even started to wee and the woman in the shop who looked like she hadn’t moved from that spot since 1971. ’71 pence...that’s 71 pence...’ *Hands over a pound* ‘1 pound...1 pound...71 pence...29 pence change...29 pence...thank you.’ I could barely stifle a giggle as she handed over the change and got out there before I was sucked into the twilight zone.

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The rest of the journey was a doddle and no sooner had I sent a few texts than we were in beautiful Blackpool by the sea. We were the first to arrive (literally I don’t think we saw another human being) and parked up near the ground for a quick getaway afterwards.

After consultation with Tommo over the phone Dessie, our Blackpool expert after just the one previous visit, took us on an actual ramble through the town; past closed pubs, closed shops, closed B&Bs and very much open off licenses. He assured us he knew where he was going although on several occasions the directionwe took seemed to be  at Dessie’s whim as we wandered closer to the seafront.

Finally we reach the ‘Bierkeller’ (closed) and Dessie assured us the pub we were after was just round the corner.

And in fairness it was although incredibly enough that was closed too.

Down a couple more sidestreets we strolled and like an oasis in the desert we spotted the bright lights of a ‘Sports Bar.’ Once inside we realised this wasn’t your standard sports bar. With dance music pumping out and Blackpool’s full chav quota met by this single pub we were greeted by a ‘lady’ at the bar who enquired as to our affiliation. 

‘You here fer the footie?’ ‘Yep’ ‘Who do you support?’ ‘Er...the visitors’ ‘Oh...I hate Blackpool anyway’

We supped up our pints quicker than you could say navel piercing and headed off. By now Tommo and the Uttoxeter Express had arrived and we made for the pub in which they’d set up camp. Appropriately called the ‘Swift Hound’ for Beastie and just happened to be the first pub we’d passed on our long walk to the seafront. It was a good turnout from the Owlsalivers although there was one bloke I’d definitely not met before, especially not at Newcastle...
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Off to the ground we headed and the wind was getting rather biting now. Having never been to Bloomfield Road before I’d not known what to expect but if someone had told me the facilities would be worse than Kidderminster Harriers then I’d have had some idea. There were three turnstiles and once you’ve passed through there’s two portakabins on your left for toilets (better than Layer Road TBF), a burger van on wheels and then the piece de resistance; the uncovered, temporary wooden stand which stretched along one side of the pitch which would house us for the evening at £25 a pop. The newly-built ‘away end’ to our left remained closed, almost mocking us with its roof and shiny tangerine seats. Anyway we all grouped together (although we lost the Speakups and Beastie clan) and soon enough the players came out.
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The nature of the stand meant that any singing quickly dissipated into the wind and creating any sort of atmosphere was well-nigh impossible.

Wednesday lined up the same as we had at Barnsley but few us expected another three points.

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THE MATCH
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The first half was a largely scrappy affair which both teams struggling to get the ball down and play on a pretty poor surface. The theme of the weekend was continued as every handball appeal from the home fans was greeted with derision by the 950-odd Wednesdayites who threw their arms in the air and shouted handball with aplomb.

Our first chance of the half came through the excellent Tudders who was played in by JJ and had plenty of space but he tried to place it into the bottom corner rather than blast it and it curled just wide. The referee was whistle happy and was giving free-kicks for fuck all and Blackpool had plenty of opportunities to put the ball into our box but largely we dealt with it well. Our best chance of the half came on the counter attack as JJ picked it up on the halfway line, beat a couple of men but then pushed his shot just across the goal having been forced to the right hand side of the box. The Jamaican’s night was over soon afterwards though as he pulled up with a hamstring injury and on came Leon Clarke; a refreshing attacking substitution and a chance for Big Leon to impress Mr Irvine.

There was little between the sides for the rest of the half and 0-0 was a fair reflection although the bizarre yellow cards and free-kicks were becoming a source of frustration. Aylesbury was uncharacteristically outspoken about his thoughts of the referee’s performances; offering his thoughts on Mr Hall’s father’s alleged proclivity for dressing up as a woman called Rachel at the weekend. The mood in the away ‘end’ was jovial and the banter kept us warm as the sea air blew in.
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The Speakups and Beasties joined us for the second half and we all felt confident if we kept our shape we could get a result out of this game. Tudgay continued to look impressive and struck the post shortly into the half; I really felt for Tudders as he deserved a goal for his performance.

One of the highlights of the second half was when a Purse clearance went high up in the air and Leon was right under it. He was completely deceived by the wind (being incredibly generous to him) and stepped about five yards in front of the ball before heading at thin air and seeing the ball bounce well over him.

Blackpool had a chance through sub Southern who put just wide but the game was still in the balance going into the last twenty minutes.

However, it was Wednesday who made the breakthrough. Purse pumped a long ball forward from a free-kick and amazingly Leon flicked it on into the path of Tom Soares. The Stoke loanee took a couple of great touches to get away from the centre backs and fired home, admittedly with a useful deflection. He celebrated down in front of us as we went slightly mental and threatened to make the temporary stand collapse.

As expected Blackpool came back strongly and Granty made a terrific save from Taylor-Fletcher who was clean through on goal. However the nerves were settled with five minutes left. Potter put a peach of a ball into the box and Clarke’s near post run was completely missed by the Blackpool defence, leaving him with an easy header into the top corner past a flapping Rachubka. Leon did his best to scare the kids by taking off his shirt in celebration but we were too busy jumping on top of one another to care.

The game was up and the home fans knew it as they streamed for the exits. Wednesday passed the ball around nicely for the remainder of the game and Tudders had some sublime little touches and his confidence seems to be flooding back. Michael Gray had a bit of an aberration in injury time when he made a very dodgy back header to Grant and then Spurr went off having gone down with a head injury for about the third time in the game.

We knew Blackpool would score as Beastie had jinxed us by saying how much of a confidence boost it would be to keep a clean sheet. No sooner had Charlie Adam fired home than the ref blew the whistle and it was another three points for the Owls. The players came over and showed their appreciation and the fans celebrated another job well done.
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Three points at Blackpool was very much of a bonus but in our position you need all the points you can get. The win took us out the drop zone which should be a massive boost ahead of Peterborough on Saturday.

Mark Beevers was excellent at the back again and even Darren Purse made fewer mistakes than usual. Lewis Buxton continued his good form from Saturday and was only beaten once that I can remember. James O’Connor continues to be our most consistent player and he did a great job keeping Charlie Adam quiet while Potter showed his class with the ball into the box for Leon’s goal. Soares again seemed reluctant to throw himself into every challenge but his touch was much better and his obvious ability showed for his goal. Marcus Tudgay however deserves most of the plaudits for me after an all-round display which could only have been bettered if he scored.

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Listening to Alan Irvine this morning you can’t help but be impressed. He’s clearly got it into the players’ heads that shape and tactics are absolutely crucial, especially away from home and his impact has been instant having already won double the games Laws managed away from S6 this season.

I hope he’s looking forward to his Hillsborough ‘debut’ and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t after two terrific away performances. It will be interesting to see how we line up as our tactics in the last two matches have been very much ‘away’ tactics with a focus on shape and solidity with the threat of counter attack.

There will obviously be more impetus on us to attack on Saturday and without JJ in the side presumably I’d like to see Esajas get a run out.

But in Alan we trust!

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