10 years ago Pool 1 Swindon T 0

Last updated : 23 November 2011 By INOIT

imagesCANF3TJEFUNNY game football ... a week ago, Pool took in-form Division Two leaders Brentford to the cleaners and came back from London with nothing.

Three days later, they pulverised an impressive Stoke side in the later stages of a rip-roaring game but had to settle for the meagre return of a single point.

Then on Saturday, they never fired on all cylinders, for once failed to show their usual fluent style and lacked their usual cutting edge up front – and ended up walking away with all three points.

Yet that's not to say Blackpool did not deserve it. Ok, they didn't tear apart Swindon with crisp, passing play as they have done to other sides this season, and they also failed to build on the early lead given to them by a wonderful Danny Coid strike, but they were still the better side. Pool dominated territorially for long periods and when Swindon did threaten, they barely looked capable of breaking through, and the main feeling among everyone except the travelling fans from Wiltshire was one of frustration that Pool had not killed off their opponents. Then with the finishing line in sight, it was suddenly panic stations as the Seasiders got a death wish and did their best to hand Town a share of the spoils.

First, with the game already into stoppage time, Swindon's Aussie midfield man Danny Invincible pounced on a loose ball after an ugly scramble in front of goal and swung a leg at it from only about eight yards out. It took a deflection off a crowd of bodies, but James Pullen somehow kept his eye on it and smothered the ball.

A marvellous stop, but two minutes later, he did even better. After Martin Bullock was hustled off the ball, sub Swindon sub Paul McAreavey sped into the area and was sent sprawling by Stephen Caldwell's rash challenge. It was a sickener for Caldwell, who Steve McMahon had made skipper for the day and who had been outstanding in the centre of the Pool rearguard up to that point.

But it was just as much of a sickener from the home faithful, who had seen their side splutter along where they usually purr but show enough determination to hold onto the lead Coid gave them 91 whole minutes earlier. Coid had cut in from the right, made the most of the space which came as the Town defence stood off, and curled a cracker which made helpless keeper Bart Griemink look like Bart Simpson. Was it all going to be in vain?

No, it was not, as Pullen dived brilliantly to his left to palm away Invincible's penalty as the Swindon man failed conclusively to live up to his name
The points were safe, and Pullen, newly committed to Pool for the rest of this campaign, was the King of Bloomfield Road for a day, a broad grin flashing across his face as he lapped up a standing ovation from the East and South Paddocks who were just getting their breath back from letting out a massive sigh of relief. So all's well that ends well, but for once, didn't Pool make hard work of it? It has been a pleasure to come to Bloomfield Road this season and see flowing, vibrant football the likes of which some of us thought we might never see again. The results have not always gone the way of Macca's men, but they have shown opponent after opponent how well they can play.

They did it again on Saturday, but for some reason, the spark which glowed like a bonfire night Roman candle on Tuesday was not quite there. Coid had given them the perfect platform, but the bloke in front who said "I reckon this might be a five-niller" when that third minute strike hit the net proved to be a touch optimistic. And Pool's frustration stemmed in no small part to the efforts of that wily hunk of granite Neil Ruddock.

The Scratching Shed reckoned he'd polished off more than his fair share of pies when they saw his broad frame, but old Razor took it in good part, acknowledging the taunts with a knowing smile and then responding in the best way possible as far as Swindon were concerned with a solid defensive display.
He might finish a good way behind Linford Christie in a sprint these days, but Ruddock can read a game like a book and with defensive partner Andy Gurney equally impressive, Blackpool battered away in vain. Town boss Roy Evans compounded their problems by stringing five men across the centre of the park to try to smother out the Tangerine threat, and to an extent, it worked.

Paul Simpson was as lively as ever as he tried to get things moving, and on the right, Bullock buzzed around relentlessly, made some telling runs and more impressively chased a number of lost causes as the home side laboured to make their territorial advantage pay. But they did not get to grips with the game as they can do, and at times found themselves struggling to hold on to possession and probing in vain for an opening.

And for once, they did not have that bite in front of goal. There was no lack of effort from Ian Marshall, who put himself about as much as he could, but he was unable to create too much and the one golden chance which did fall his way, when a Simpson corner fell at his feet only six yards out just before the break, was ballooned over and towards the still-deserted new stands. More significantly, and the way he has been going I never thought I would say this, but Brett actually had a quiet game. A couple of times in the first half, Ormerod almost skipped clear of the Swindon defence only to annoyingly lose his footing when it looked like he was in on goal.

Then for the rest of the game and particularly in the second half when the visitors started to chance their arm and throw men forward in the search for a point, he was so well policed by the Town defence that he hardly got a sight on goal. So with only brief threats from Blackpool and Swindon looking adequate elsewhere but woefully short of fire power up front, the game ground on in a low key manner.

Yet you almost felt the anxiety building up on the terraces was communicating itself to the home side, and even Macca admitted he feared something might happen. Sure enough it did, but in that dramatic finale Pullen produced two pieces of magic Harry Potterwould have been proud of, and it all ended happily.

Not the most memorable of games, but the boss has called for more steel and more grinding out of one-nil wins when things are not going well. If ever there was a case in point, this was it, and on this occasion, maximum points will do just nicely.