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Blackpool Mens 1st Team travelled to Cockermouth for an anticipated tough fixture with Keswick West Cumbria but confidence was high amongst the players even with the trio of Dan Woodman, Peter Latimer and Mike Thom missing.
Thanks to the early meet and the lack of predicted roadworks on the M6 the team arrived with plenty of time for a warm up and this was lucky because Keswick started very well and Blackpool struggled to find any their passing game. However, a well worked move led to Blackpool scoring the first goal, Morgan fed a ball into the D which Simon Thomas deflected into the path of Steve whitley, who calmly flick the ball past the dive of the Keswick keeper. 1 goal to the good and Blackpool started to relax a little but they kept making small mistakes that helped Kewsick to continue getting their percentage of attacks. The rest of the 1st half became a 50/50 affair with both teams having opportunities to score.
The Blackpool defence of Nick Rainbow, Joe Boniface, Atish Mistry, Craig Brookes and Rob Abbott managed to shut the door on the attacks and keep scoreline in Blackpools favour. On the stroke of halftime, Blackpool managed to double their lead. The midfield quartet of Slater, Whitley, Thomas and Harris, combining, finally allowing Kieran Harris to beat 2 players and deliver a killer pass to Dave Morgan who calmly reverse stick scored, past a stranded Keswick keeper, the half time whistle sounding literally seconds later.
Half time and Captain Abbott asked for more effort and concentration to cut out the mistakes which were helping Keswick far too much. The 2nd half was much the same as the first with both sides sharing possession but never quite managing to get a goal. 20 minutes in and that changed, a hotley contested umpiring decision didnt go Blackpools way and resulted in Kewsicks right half scoring with a sweet reverse stick shot in to the top corner, the umpires debated but much to Blackpools disappointment the goal stood.
The fact that this was the first open play goal that the team had conceded all season, resulted in Blackpool going on the offensive, with their collective pass and move play improving vastly. Eventually this paid off with the third Blackpool goal. Keiran Harris made a fantastic tackle in midfield which sprang a quick Blackpool attack involving Ian Swaine, Steve Whitley and James Slater, resulting in the ball being returned to Man of the Match Kieran Harris who rifled the ball into the bottom corner. 3-1 and the Blackpool players were smiling again.
Blackpool held off the resultant charge by Keswick, helped by the return of Jack “dislocated shoulder II” Boniface, who replaced an aging (sorry injured) Captain Abbott,who in turn re entered the game to replace an injured Joe “sicknote” Boniface…
Final whistle and Blackpool had recorded a great away win against a tough side and maintained their excellent unbeaten start to the season. Blackpool 1st team travel to Winnington park next Saturday for yet another tough away game.
PRIDE AND HONOUR!