Another clean sheet, a second win in a row, and oh yes a hat-trick from the returning Alex Diver
Blackpool started the match with a full squad of 16 (and a strong one at that). From the beginning they looked to play a more attacking game from previous weeks and searching passes found forward man Ollie Tomlinson who unfortunately struggled to convert the chances given. Relentless attacks from Blackpool saw wide man Brent Whiteside cross the ball into the centre of the area for Tomlinson to strike and test the goalie late in the first half.
Half time and Blackpool grouped together to ask the question of why the score line was still level. A change of formation saw last week’s winning line up start the second half for Blackpool. The extra man up front allowed Blackpool to hold the ball up and start to stretch and test the Springfield defence. A substitution saw Alex Diver, the team’s top scor for the past 3 seasons, come on for his seasonal debut and immediately make a positive impact for Blackpool.
Strong long passes from the middle players of Harrison Stott and James Smith allowed Diver to hold the ball at the top of the area, turn and shoot to score the first for Blackpool.
Springfields heads dropped and as they pushed forward they left too little at the back to cope with Blackpool’s counter attack. Pete Latimer stopped the initial play from Springfields with a great tackle inside the D and shifted the ball out to wide man Brent Whiteside who ran half the length of the pitch and crossed the ball strongly from the wing allowing Diver to strike first time and wrong foot the keeper.
The new formation allowed more space in the midfield for Blackpool which continually tested Spring’s defence. After Whiteside was cleared out by the keeper in a one-on-one situation, a penalty flick saw Diver step up for a chance at his hat-trick. His flick into the top right corner was coolly saved by the Springfields keeper, but all was not lost for Diver’s hat-trick.
A quickly taken free hit by defender Phil Weir in the middle of the park led to the ball going straight to Kieran Armstrong who shot into the pads of the keeper but the rebound came to Diver who lobbed the ball back over the keeper into the net for his well deserved hat-trick.
The final whistle then blew to confirm the convincing win to Blackpool, who are beginning to look like a much stronger team than the start of the season. Unfortunately due to there only being 9 teams in the league, there’s 3 blank Saturday’s in a row, and 4 weeks till the next league match. Let’s hope the momentum isn’t lost.