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Get Out Of Jail - Three:
by John Secker
They took a point today despite being the poorer team, as Leyton Orient proved themselves better organised, especially in defence.Blackpool had just one change from the team which did so well against Stockport in midweek, with Ormerod coming in to replace Newell up front, alongside John Murphy. That meant Neil Murphy, Jaszczun, Hughes and Jones in defence, and Coid, Bushell, Clarkson and Simpson in midfield.
Almost immediately a ball up to Murphy resulted in a flick on to Ormerod, but Murphy was adjudged to have fouled the defender. Down at the other end, it was immediately clear that the Orient attack was going to give the home defence problems, and every time the ball was played high into the Blackpool box the nerves were immediately visible. As in previous games Blackpool were passing the ball around, but somehow today the result was not quite the same.
All the passes were going sideways or back, and when a ball was played into an attacking position it was usually misdirected. To be fair to Orient, they were well organised and didn't allow the Blackpool midfield or attackers any time or space to operate. Simpson had his poorest game so far with us - he did not put the defence under any pressure at all with his running, and he did not get down the wing as effectively as he has in the past. After twelve minutes the disarray in the Blackpool defence was exploited by the visitors. A throw in was conceded by Blackpool on the Orient left wing, and it resulted in a long cross way beyond the far post. As the defence rushed across after it, an Orient forward headed it high, over to the other side of the goal where another attacker slid in behind the fullback to knock the ball past Caig, who was still trying to get back into position.
Blackpool reacted well to this setback, continuing to try to play the ball forward. It was noticeable that they were using the wings much less in this game, whether by deliberate plan or not was unclear. Most of the attacks resulted, sooner or later, in a ball up the middle to Ormerod or Murphy. These two were controlling it quite well, but they rarely found support coming through, so the final outcome was often a pass back to the defence to try again. However Ormerod's speed was causing problems, and this lead to the equaliser. Caig put a long high kick upfield, right of centre, and as it dropped just on the edge of the box, Ormerod got ahead of the defender, who bundled him to the ground. The crowd shouted for a red card and a penalty, but the referee showed yellow, and gave a free kick right on the edge. Simpson stepped up and drove in a hard shot, which clipped a defender who was peeling off the end of the wall, and it took a large deflection away from the keeper and into the empty net.
The twenty minutes which followed this goal were Blackpool's best of the match. Simpson made a break down the left, and for once he made it into the box and shaped to cross. However with Ormerod and Murphy coming in, he chose to try to chip for the far corner of the goal, and ended up putting a soft ball into the keeper's hands. A little later a short cross lead to a melee on the edge of the box, and Murphy found a couple of yards of space. He fired in a hard low shot, but a defender got a boot to it and turned it just past the far post for a corner. When the corner came in it was headed on at the near post, but the defence managed to get first to the ball as it dropped. Soon after we won another corner on the same side; this time it was hit hard and flew right across the face of goal, beating everybody including Murphy who just failed to reach it at the far post.
During this spell it looked as though Blackpool were certain to score again, and go on to dominate the match. However the frailty of the defence was still there, lurking and waiting for a chance to spoil the party. There were a couple of incidents in the Blackpool box where a failure to clear the ball gave Orient a chance to score again. Then, about five minutes before the break, the visitors won a corner, and when the cross came in Blackpool were again unable to clear. As the ball bounced around the middle of the area a forward tried an overhead kick. It was not a good one, and the ball only rolled slowly towards goal, but for some reason Caig and the other defenders all seemed to freeze, and it trickled gently into the net.
This seemed to knock the stuffing out of Blackpool, and for most of the second half they were a poor shadow of the team we have seen so far this season. They were still passing the ball around, but almost always to the side or backwards; whatever we tried it eventually came back to Hughes. Caig's kicking had deserted him, and where before he was putting it onto Murphy's head every time, now it was going right to the other keeper, or sliced out for a throw. A couple of times Neil Murphy made runs up the right, but the crosses did not find an attacking head. The Blackpool forwards were making very little progress against the Orient defence, and at the other end every ball played into the home area caused panic. Blackpool found themselves stretched several times when Orient broke quickly, but on the ground the Blackpool defenders were getting back and tackling well.
With 25 minutes left McMahon made a tactical change. He took Eifion Jones off and replaced him with Nowland up front, moving Jaszczun into the centre of defence. Immediately Nowland went on a run on the right, into the box, and in the scramble Blackpool could well have scored. From this point on the home side started to come back into the game; a few minutes later another move up the right found Murphy with a free header, which he planted over the keeper into the net, but it was ruled out for offside. Ten minutes after Nowland's introduction Milligan came on for Simpson, who had not been very effective. However when the break finally came it was Ormerod, deservedly Blackpool's Man of the Match, who created the chance. It was a hopeful ball hit up the left wing towards the corner, and Ormerod chased valiantly after it, getting his foot on it just before it went out. Although he was right out on the touchline he belted in an excellent ball across the face of goal, and Phil Clarkson, running in, rose to head the equaliser. The game was still very much alive, and though Orient did not surrender, Blackpool looked the more likely to get the winner. However they still seemed anxious, failing to put their passes together, and Caig wasted several possessions by kicking poorly. In the end the whistle went, leaving both sets of fans somewhat disappointed.
Clearly this was a poor performance - perhaps after their heroics against Stockport the players thought they merely had to turn up in order to win. However, even at their worst they stuck to their game plan, and they kept going once again to rescue something late on. It was also good to see McMahon making a significant tactical change with enough time left for it to make a difference. After a season watching Junior being brought on after 75 minutes in every game, this is a nice change. It is still too soon to make judgements about the prospects for Blackpool - have they been poor but lucky, or are they still settling down, and showing good fighting spirit? The game at Torquay on Monday will be important, with a tough trip to Scunthorpe to follow.