Blackpool Men’s first team are within touching distance of promotion as they cruised to a 6-1 win over strugglers Chester Men’s seconds at Stanley Park. Dave Morgan carried on where he left off last week as he opened the scoring after ten minutes. Ian Swaine’s interception left the Chester defence scrambling, but after feeding Morgan the in-form striker made no mistake as he beat the Chester goalkeeper. Blackpool doubled their lead five minutes later at a penalty corner when Dan Woodman combined with Morgan for the latter to sweetly flick the ball into the top left corner. After 20 minutes Morgan completed his second hat-trick in as many weeks, converting again from a penalty corner as he deflected Swaine’s strike into the roof of the net. Swaine was rewarded for his assists as he picked up a goal of his own after Jay Currey picked him out in the area after slicing the Chester defence apart down the back line.
With the game already sewn up, Blackpool continued to push and scored twice early in the second half. Josh Payne’s trickery left a number of Chester players scratching their heads as he weaved his way down the left flank, before picking out Jay Currey who lifted the ball over the goalkeeper for his third of the season. Payne grabbed a goal of his own five minutes later to reward an excellent performance from the teenager. With the points guaranteed, Blackpool slacked off allowing a soft goal from a penalty corner that somehow sneaked in under Nick Rainbow’s kicker, but there was little drama in the remaining quarter of an hour.
With Colwyn Bay coming out on top against South Cheshire and Bowden continuing their good run of form, there are now only three teams left in the title race, but Blackpool know it’s all in their hands as they only need to pick up one win out of the remaining three matches to lift the division title.
@ Rob Dingle