Blackpool vs West Bromwich Albion, Premier League Monday 1st November 2010, kick-off 8:00pm Firstly, apologies for the lateness of this thread!! Note the kick-off time by the way of 8:00pm. Evening matches usually kick-off at 7:45pm but this is the second consecutive home match to be shown live on Sky Sports and this is the regular time for games to start on "Monday Night Football". West Brom have had a good start to the season and surprised the so called experts (though not anyway near as much as Blackpool). Will be interesting from a personal perspective as we are meeting up with a Baggies fan before the game - outside the West stand on the plaza area. Been speaking to him for a while now on facebook and talking footy of course! He is coming up for a quick trip to the seaside, some fish 'n chips on the front and the match of course! This week is the end of the tourist season in Blackpool, and it has been hectic where I live in the evenings with the "Illuminations" (google it - Blackpool Illuminations) traffic causing tailbacks when I try to get to the local supermarket, and it will mean no trip along the front to get to the ground tomorrow as it will be bumper-to-bumper traffic on the prom. At least though after this week parking will be easier until the tourist season starts again in April! A win in this game whilst not absolutely vital, really would be a huge boost.
Wild and crazy - weather looked miserable, 2 red cards and West Brom tried to ruin our day - but we hung on for the win! 9th place, baby!
Ah ha we are 9th then? Yay! It was certainly a different evening at Bloomfield Road. We should have won by much more but Blackpool do like to make things difficult. The first sending off was in all honesty very dubious. It was a penalty but their player probably didn't deserve to be sent off too. However, the second red card was fully deserved and for a hideous tackle right at the corner flag which could easily have boken Luke Varney's leg it was that bad. It was off the pitch that made the night weird. The big flag is always bagged up and then given to the stewards and is kept in an office at the stadium. However, it was found out that after the Man City game the stewards simply left it at the side of the pitch where it had been ever since in the bag and it stunk as it has been out in the wind and the rain. Then the lad who usually takes charge had a problem with his season ticket card as it won't swipe so he had to go to the ticket office to get it sorted as the stewards wouldn't let him in.... When he did finally get in the stadium, in time to bag the flag up, the stewards at first refused to take the flag, blaming US for it being left out all that time. The police are no better and it seems that it is going to take a big incident outside the South stand on Bloomfield Road before they realise their policy post-match isn't working. They have a huge presence on Bloomfield Road with cops in riot gear, dogs, and on horseback. They stand there staring at supporters in big lines, and then use an ambulance and their vans to block the home support from freely leaving the ground, forcing us all to leave through a more limited area. Yet despite this they make no attempt to keep the home and away fans apart and at every home game (apart from the Fulham game) there has been real tension. After the City game it was the same with one fan getting very irate with the police. This evening was no better and probably worse without going into any detail. But they are going to have to do something before something happens. Before games it isn't a problem as there is just anticipation of the game ahead. But after the game feelings are often very different and fans wound up with big groups walking toward each other. With the game - there has been talk about Charlie Adam and how he is in dispute with the club over a bonus payment and that he could end up leaving in January. But his reaction and celebration when he scored showed how much he loves this club and the fans. He ran up and down in front of the stands pointing toward the fans before patting his club badge on his chest and then finally turning round when he was running back to the centre circle and raised both arms in a clenched fist celebration to the fans again. In the end the team made it very difficult to get the three points. But, quite frankly right now I don't care, tonight we won our first home match in the top division in England since 1971. Our last top flight home win was 39 years ago. And it was our first league victory (in any division) over West Brom since February 1993 when current BFC pyshio Phil Horner scored both goals in a 2-1 win!! Oh and one more thing, I got interviewed before the match for some website and was asked to predict the scoreline. I said 2-1 to Blackpool, while stood next to my friend who is West Brom fan and who predicted the same scoreline but with a different team to win.....