THE Seasiders were due to take on Swindon as the Citizen went to press (Wednesday night) buoyed by reports that manager Steve McMahon is set to sign his new contract which should see him at the helm for the immediate future at least.

This follows more good news after his team grabbed a vital three points right at the death in the home tie with Northamptom at the weekend.

Big John Murphy returned to haunt the Cobblers once again with another last-gasp winner to grab three vital points at Bloomfield Road. Darryn Stamp had put the visitors in the lead but a Ritchie Walker penalty towards the end of the game levelled the scores before Murphy popped up to seal the points - just like he had done in the corresponding fixture at the Sixfileds Stadium earlier in the season.

Although the timing of the victory may have been a little harsh on Terry Fenwick according to Steve McMahon it was no less than the newly-appointed Cobblers manager deserved for his team's display. The Pool boss complained about the "very negative and very defensive" tactic of his counterpart and the last minute winner from Murphy was just what his team had deserved.

Blackpool started the better of the two sides and that was pretty much the story of the whole game. However a defensive blunder from the Seasiders gifted the visitors the lead with half an hour gone in what was a very isolated Northampton attack. Darryn Stamp couldn't miss from close range after some very loose defending from the Tangerines.

Steve McMahon also said after the game that after the goal Northampton went from playing nine men in defence to playing all ten outfield players at the back! That may have been a slight exaggeration from the Pool boss but it did seem as though the Cobblers were looking to hang on to their lead a bit too

prematurely.

To their credit for the majority of the remainder of the game, Northampton did hang on and frustrated the Seasiders who were fast running out of ideas.

A touch of class was needed from somewhere to break the deadlock and it was Ritchie Wellens who provided just that.

Picking up the ball just into the opposing half, Wellens proceeded to slice open the Northampton defence with a kind of run that Seasiders fans are used to seeing from Martin Bullock. But just as Wellens looked to unleash a shot for what would have been a wonder goal, he was felled by Paul Harsley for a certain penalty to Pool. With normal spot kick taker John Hills substituted, Ritchie Walker stepped up and coolly slotted home for the equaliser with 13 minutes to go.

From thereafter Pool looked destined to take all three points with Northampton by all means on the back foot. A winner did come but it wasn't until the 3rd minute of injury time when John Murphy capitalised on a mistake from Nathan Abbey to tap home from close range.

The strike from Murphy was practically the last kick of the game and how vital will that goal be at the end of the season.

The three points lifts Pool all the way up to 8th position but still 7 points off a play-off position.

Games at Swindon and Colchester will give Steve McMahon's men a good chance off achieving that target.

Blackpool 2-1 Northampton Town