Mauled in the den

Blackpool's visit to the Den was always going to be a difficult match after their repeated failure to win in the capital, writes Chris Dixon..

The match, much like that against Walsall two days earlier (April 3), was one-way traffic going against the Seasiders.

But there were some improvements.

Clark Carlisle played a much more controlled game and almost won the Seasiders a share of the spoils with a last minute header which was cleared off the line.

And Blackpool did manage to put the ball in the back of the net - it didn't count because of an offside flag, but it is such a rarity to see the ball in the opposition's goal that it has to be mentioned.

Junior Bent was the unlucky Seasider to have his goal ruled out.

Simon Sturridge spent his last game with the Tangerines on the bench after a lacklustre month on loan which neither impressed the fans nor proved his goalscoring worth.

Martin Aldridge made a shaky comeback after missing six games but looked more promising than Sturridge did all month.

Marvin Bryan picked up his eighth yellow card of the season to add to the Seasiders' suspension problems for the run-in.

He will miss the York game on April 20, one week after skipper Ian Hughes misses the derby clash at Deepdale. Blackpool lost the match in the early stages of the game.

On seven minutes Neil Harris found himself in acres of space to slot past Tony Caig, who showed some signs of nerves.

At one stage, deep in the second half, he collected a ball from Paul Shaw - a constant source of problems for the Pool defence - and promptly dropped it.

At the other end of the pitch, Blackpool rarely threatened.

Aside from the Carlisle header and disallowed Junior Bent goal, there was no indication that the Seasiders could break their goal drought.

Blackpool play Reading at home on Saturday and it looks likely that the same side - apart from Sturridge - will be chosen as no injuries were picked up at the Den and no players are suspended.

Tuesday night sees the Tangerines take on Burnley in an all-ticket match. Kick-off is 7.30pm.

There were two other sights to catch Seasiders' fans attention over the weekend.

One was the News of the World's comments about Steve Banks, when they labelled him the best keeper outside the Premiership and an 'absolute steal at £50,000'.

The other was Gary Brabin scoring at Hull!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.