Guts, quality and entertainment: Blackpool's comeback win against Coventry City had a bit of everything

The Sky Blues, who have been plagued by stadium issues for years now thanks to ugly wrangles with rugby union side Wasps, the local council and the owners of the ground, are likely to be forced to play their midweek home game against Blackburn Rovers elsewhere.

The grounds of Walsall and Wolves have both been mooted. Burton Albion and Northampton have previously been used as alternative venues.

It will come as no solace to Mark Robins’ side given they lost, but if this encounter is to be their last at this venue, there are worse ways to go out because this was a proper ding-dong battle.

Both sides played their part in what was a thrilling encounter, with both teams throwing caution to the wind and playing some eye-catching and captivating stuff.

Impressive

For the Seasiders, this was their best performance of the season to date. Their display had a bit of everything; the quality and chance creation, the style and panache at certain points but also the spirit and grit to defend and see out some hairy moments.

A little bizarrely, the two football clubs were sharing the arena with another major event, the UK’s Rubik’s Cube Championship, which was held at the indoor exhibition centre. Well Michael Appleton’s side were certainly able to find the solutions to solve this particular puzzle.

Had this game finished level, which certainly wasn’t out of the question given the two sides were level with 10 minutes to go, I’m sure neither side’s fans would have grumbled. It was an entertaining spectacle and both sides played their part.

Thirty-three shots were shared by the two participants, 16 for Coventry and 17 for Blackpool, which proves how enjoyable a fixture it was.

But if any side deserved to win it, it was certainly Blackpool. In fact, let me rephrase that, had the visitors taken their chances, they could and perhaps should have run away with it.

Missed chances

The clearer-cut, high quality opportunities certainly fell for the Seasiders, especially early on when Gary Madine squandered THREE gilt-edged chances before Sonny Carey struck the post.

But to Coventry’s credit, their goal was one of real high quality, Callum O’Hare nonchalantly flicking the ball into Kasey Palmer who nutmegged the otherwise flawless Jordan Thorniley before slotting home.

At that point, you did begin to fear whether it was going to be another one of those days, but even Coventry boss Mark Robins conceded his side could have been three or four down at this point and there was no way Blackpool were going to give up without a fight.

The Seasiders could easily have grumbled and felt sorry for themselves heading into the interval a goal down, such was their dominance and level of control.

But the character they showed at the start of the second-half was a delight to watch, because Blackpool were straight back onto the front foot and even more aggressive in their approach than they were in the first 45.

Risk vs reward

Their pressing and harrying was so risky it was untrue. But it’s bloody good to watch, isn’t it?

It’s a constant weighing up of the risk versus the reward and perhaps we have to accept this approach will go against them sometimes.

But it will also produce games like this and wins like this, which now means Blackpool move up to 15th, five points clear of the bottom three having claimed their first back-to-back victories of the season.

It was fitting that it was Madine who drew Blackpool back on level terms given his first-half misses. It was a goal of real high quality too, glancing home a deft header over the goalkeeper’s despairing leap after beating his marker at the near post to reach James Husband’s swinging cross.

Instead of going for the jugular and immediately hunting down a second, the away side actually sat off for a few minutes which invited a spell of pressure from the Sky Blues, who are a far better side than their current position in the table suggests.

In O’Hare, Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres they have three players of high quality and, should they manage to adequately resolve their stadium saga, I’ve no doubt they will pull away to safety.

A fitting end

But this was Blackpool’s day. Ten minutes from time they would bag what would turn out to be the winner. Who else but Jerry Yates?

The striker, who let’s not forget scored just three goals in 31 games prior to his current run of form, now tops the Championship’s scoring charts out on his own with nine league goals. Seven of those have come in his last five games.

It was a confident, towering header from the forward, who was playing out on the right wing, who barged Madine out of the way to send CJ Hamilton’s cross back where it came from and into the far corner.

A little controversial, perhaps, but I actually felt Jerry didn’t have his best game. His goal aside, he wasn’t as emphatic with his chances – because he did have three or four good other openings -opting to delay and delay when first-time shots on goal would have otherwise been the order of the day.

But we can forgive him those odd moments of hesitancy in the final third as long as he continues to come up trumps, as he’s currently doing both in terms of his overall performance and his output in front of goal.

Yates’ winner has given Pool fans a real shot in the arm, because the mood has transformed in the last week or so. Back it up with another positive result against bottom side West Brom in midweek and one or two might even begin to get carried away.

One step at a time…