Manchester City Res 1 Blackpool Res 4
City: E Johansen; Smith, Carter, Tse, Helan; Cieslewicz, Elabdellaoui, Mitchell (Grandison, 63), Frater (Poole, 52); Redshaw (Paris, 79), Guidetti.
Unused subs: Wood, Kapsalopodas.
Blackpool: Halstead; Wright, Eastham, Evatt, Coid; Kay, Fox, Carratta, Green; Almond (Newsham, 79), McPhee (McKenna, 7, Forshaw 86).
Unused subs: Potts, D’Arcy.
Goals: 0-1 Green (19, pen), 0-2 Almond (48), 0-3 Green (50), 0-4 Green (54), 1-4 Redshaw (57).
Bookings:
City: None.
Blackpool: None.
Referee: S Cummins.
The Match
BLACKPOOL’S extra experience was just too much for a young Blues side that headed the Totesport.com League until recently, but the scoreline certainly flattered the visitors at the Regional Athletics Arena.
Stuart Green, the former Hull and Crystal Palace left-sided midfielder, scored a hat-trick after his first-half penalty gave Blackpool an interval lead they built upon handsomely in the ten hectic minutes following the break.
But Green’s third goal - and the Seasiders’ fourth - should have been disallowed for a blatant handball that the linesman missed, while Jack Redshaw had been denied an opening goal when his header looked to be blocked by a defender’s hand behind the line.
Blackpool needed to recover their composure from a shocking early setback when striker Stephen McPhee’s leg buckled underneath him after five minutes with no City defender close to him.
The devastated former Hull and Port Vale player, who has been dogged by a knee problem for most of the season, had to be stretchered off and Blackpool now fear he will need cruciate surgery that could rule him out for six months.
City fell behind after 19 minutes when Sean Tse’s mistimed challenge brought down the lively Louis Almond in the penalty box, and Green stepped up to squeeze the spot kick past Eirik Johansen’s outstretched hand.
Billy McKenna almost pinched a second after Johansen dawdled and saw his attempted clearance half-blocked, but the Blackpool substitute’s lob drifted over the bar, and Adrian Cieslewicz soon went close to an equaliser.
But a flurry of goals at the start of the second half decided the result for Blackpool. Almond completed a nice bout of passing by steering his shot beyond the helpless Johansen for the first after 48 minutes.
Almond’s shot led to Blackpool’s third two minutes later - Johansen parried his effort but Green was following up and alert enough to direct a difficult header in off the underside of the bar.
The game was effectively over after 54 minutes with Green’s disputed hat-trick goal as he raced onto a good through pass from Matthew Kay but appeared to control the ball at least once with his lower arm.
Persistent Jack Redshaw snatched one back for the Blues three minutes later with a strong finish after John Guidetti’s fine run and cross down the left flank, but though Redshaw fired a later chance at the keeper and Guidetti curled one a foot pas the post near the end, Blackpool knew they had done enough.
