Blackpool FC: Three talking points from the Seasiders' victory over Lincoln City on New Year's Day

It was vital for the Seasiders to make a bright start to the new year following their dismal end to 2023.

Neil Critchley made three changes for the fixture, with Matty Virtue and Kyle Joseph coming in for the injured Ollie Norburn and Jake Beesley, while Owen Dale replaced Dom Thompson.

Here’s some of the talking points from the game:

Casey takes his chance

Casey has been forced to be patient in recent months. After making a bright start to the campaign, he lost his place in Blackpool’s League One starting XI following a three-match ban.

Due to a recent concussion for Matthew Pennington, and illness for Marvin Ekpiteta, he has been handed another chance in the team.

He looked solid and assured against Lincoln- winning plenty of aerial battles. His skillset makes him a key component for the Seasiders at the back, and they do miss him when he’s not there.

Of course his reward came at the other end of the field, as he headed home a free kick, following a perfect ball into the box from Karamoko Dembele- who is really starting to master set pieces.

Hopefully Casey can have another good run and cement his place in Neil Critchley’s plans.

Lots of work to do

The win against Lincoln certainly stops the rot for Blackpool, but there’s plenty of work to do.

They have fallen behind in the race for the play-offs, and they’ll only make up that ground if the away form improves.

There’s been a few false dawns in recent months where the Seasiders have failed to kick on from a good win.

If we’re being honest, the New Year’s Day fixture probably doesn’t go into the good win category, as the Imps were pretty poor and they hardly threatened Dan Grimshaw’s goal.

To beat the majority of other teams in this league, Blackpool’s levels will need to be higher.

Nonetheless, they still picked themselves up following a torrid couple of games, and maybe this time they can use it to kickstart the campaign.

The work rate was certainly there, and they continuously kept going, which eventually led to Hamilton’s goal.

Having a short break from league action will do the Seasiders some good now- especially on the back of a win. They just need to reset and attack the second half of the season.

Hopefully not the last we’ve seen of Rhodes

Much uncertainty surrounds the future of Jordan Rhodes amid Huddersfield Town’s recall option for the 33-year-old.

Hopefully the game against Lincoln isn’t the last we’ve seen of him at Bloomfield Road, and he’ll still be wearing Tangerine until the end of the season.

Despite not having too many attacking opportunities during the game, his work rate was there for all to see, and he almost got his reward on a couple of occasions.

The Seasiders have already lost one loanee, with Jensen Weir heading back to Brighton & Hove Albion due to a lack of game time. The midfielder is clearly talented, as seen from his spell with Morecambe, but it just didn’t work out with Blackpool.