Blackpool Mens Teams pick up a full 12 points from their four games, and consolidate their mid table positions.
Saturday 9th February
Mens 1s vs Urmston 2s : 6-4
Mens 2s vs Prescot 2s : 3-2
Mens 3s vs Keswick West Cumbria : 3-2
Ladies 1s vs Springfields 2s : 1-4
Ladies 2s vs Garstang 2s : 1-2
Ladies 3s vs Brookfields 1s : 1-5
Sunday 10th February
Mens 2s vs Wigan 2s : 6-1
Men’s 1sts
Morgan Collector’s Item Seals Victory
Blackpool Men’s first team made hard work of their match against Urmston at Stanley Park, but eventually ran out 6-4 winners.
With selection headaches throughout the club due to a lack of availability and injuries, a re-hashed side dominated the early stages of the game cruising to a 4-0 lead. Simon Thomas opened the scoring with a neat finish after stealing the ball from an Urmston defender and linking up with Ian Swaine and Dave Morgan. Morgan doubled the lead with a diving finish after James Slater made a powerful run down the right flank. Blackpool’s third came from a slick penalty corner again involving Morgan and Slater with the finish coming from Rob Dingle. Ian Swaine also found himself on the scoresheet with a tidy finish, and Blackpool were in cruise control. However two defensive errors from the home side gifted Urmston a goal and a penalty corner which was converted to give them a glimmer of hope going into half time.
The second half brought a change of tactics from Urmston as they tried to stretch the Blackpool defence by leaving two high forwards and adopting a long-ball game. This appeared to be paying off when Urmston cut the lead to just a single goal when Blackpool failed to stop a direct strike from a penalty corner with 20 minutes left to play. Captain Nick Rainbow shuffled his players around with immediate impact as Blackpool re-gained their two goal advantage. A quickly taken free hit from Dingle found Morgan in space, whose weighted ball was inch prefect for the run of David Wright who wrong footed the keeper to score on his return to the first team. Morgan capped off his man of the match performance with a brilliant individual goal where he beat 3 Urmston defenders and then his reverse stick shot had too much for the goal keeper to make it six. Urmston rallied for a late consolation goal from a well worked deflection, but it was too little too late and a very relieved Blackpool picked up the three points.
Men’s 2nds
Six Point Weekend As Hayes Hits Top Gear
Blackpool Men’s seconds also returned home with a valuable 3 points after a tough game away at Prescot. With several junior players in the line-up, Blackpool were thankful for experience of Martin Hayes to open the scoring with his 12th league goal in as many games. Jordan Payne also picked up a goal after two Prescot strikes to leave the match in the balance at 2-2. But with less than a minute to go, Sam Robinson found Josh Payne who beat the keeper from close range to seal a memorable win.
Blackpool carried this momentum into their re-arranged league game against Wigan running out comfortable 6-1 winners. Hayes continued his fine form claiming a somewhat disputed hatrick, with Chris Hocking also picking up a brace and Mitchell Blakemore rounded off the scoring. Josh Boyne and Sam Owen gave impressive performances after stepping up from the third team in a weekend that saw the seconds consolidate their position in the league.
Men’s 3rds
Brave Performance Inspired By Captain Diver
Blackpool Men’s third team produced the most impressive display of the weekend to pick up a 3-2 victory away at Keswick. With a much changed side, including debutant Tom Myerscough Blackpool pulled together to produce a result against a side four places above them in the league. Built on a solid defensive performance from Andrew Mortimer, Matt Hood and man of the match Conagh Griffin, Blackpool took the lead when Mitchell Blakemore combined well with Myerscough. Blackpool counter attacked well, and doubled the lead just before the break after Alex Diver deflected a Josh Boyne shot past the keeper.
In the second half, it was Keswick who scored against the run of play from a penalty corner, however Blackpool restored the lead after a fantastic strike into the top corner by Captain Diver, making an impressive 7 goals in his last 4 matches. Keswick scored with 5 minutes left to play, but Blackpool stood firm and created more chances rather than caving under the Cumbrian pressure, and secured a well deserved victory.