Yet again Blackpool 2’s were down to the bare minimum of 11 players for their 4 hour round trip to Cockermouth to play fellow relegation strugglers Keswick 2’s. The temperature had risen just enough to thaw the pitch which had been frozen for the previous two weeks. The Blackpool team travelled through the fog and arrived to a beautiful winter sunny day, and gradually the snow-tipped mountains of the Lake District revealed themselves as the match progressed.
Keswick put pressure on Blackpool from the off, and within minutes had scored the first goal, when a midfielder avoided several tackles and when challenged at the top of the D was able to pass to the unmarked winger who duly scored.
It took a while for Blackpool to organise themselves and gradually the momentum changed. Young Ollie Tomlinson, who after impressing in the 3’s has progressed to starting for the 2’s, attacked down the left wing connecting with strikers Alex Diver and Jordan Payne. Sam Robinson did the same on the right wing. A short corner was won and when the first slip went awry the ball came back to Sam Robinson who managed to loop the ball way over the keeper’s head into the back of the net for a quite extraordinary goal.
Following the equaliser, Keswick marched up the field, were able to get a initial shot on goal, and with both keeper and defender diving to save the ball, followed by some desperate defending, it was a Keswick attacker who ended up being able to push the ball into the goal, much to Blackpool’s annoyance.
Blackpool reorganised after halftime, and Chris Hocking’s dribbling runs caused huge problems for Keswick, but real shots on goal were few and far between. Frustration began to get the better of Blackpool’s players, and the game petered out to another loss where a win was eminently possible.