POOL put on a dazzling second half display to take all three points off a resilient Port Vale.

It would seem that last Saturday's defeat at Barnsley was no more than a minor blip as the Seasiders return into 6th position.

The question now is can the Seasiders really maintain a playoff position?

Looking at the second half performance of this game Pool should have no trouble achieving a top six spot. After a dire first half which saw the visitors take an early lead through Sam Collins, Pool really turned on the style after the break.

Big striker John Murphy showed he is back in top form with two goals in as many minutes to turn the game upside down on the hour mark.

Paul Dalglish was the architect of the first, crossing in from the left hand side to supply Murphy with a bullet header to level the scores.

A minute later Murphy got the second, tapping in after a Keith Southern effort was parried.

However Pool's joy was short lived as Vale grabbed a second themselves.

It started from a Blackpool corner which was cleared, and as Vale broke quickly, corner-taker Hills was left up field leaving the Seasiders defence stretched.

Clarke and Hughes did well to hold the attack up, and it shifted from right to left, but the defence were still in disarray and too many of them followed the ball, so when it was played back across the box there was no-one to prevent a Vale played slotting a shot past Barnes low into the far corner.

But it was Blackpool who had the last laugh, on-loan defender Peter Clarke scoring his third of the season on 81 minutes from a Richie Wellens's corner.

It was a nervy last 10 minutes with Barnes pulling off a cracking save and the Seasiders learning from their mistakes of past and winding the clock down by taking the ball to the corner flag for the remaining few moments of the game.

The final whistle blew to the delight of the 7,000-plus crowd. It seems as though Pool so far can keep bouncing back from defeats - such as those inflicted by Burnley and Barnsley - to win the next game and maintain their good form, something boss Steve McMahon will be very pleased about.

Blackpool 3

Murphy (63,64), Clarke (81)

Port Vale 2

Collins (23) Bridge-Wilkinson (71)