Point at the Interlink

Last updated : 17 February 2005 By Tony Scholes

Marc Pugh - got the Clarets equaliser
It was a night when things could have got ugly in the stand when stewards had to move in because one Burnley fan had his foot on a seat. Thankfully it was all solved very quickly and the supporter agreed to sit and watch the match with his feet on the ground whilst another Claret helped out by wiping the seat.

Meanwhile on the pitch the Seasiders got off to the better start and were soon in front although I’m not so sure how the assistant referee missed the offside. It looked as though he was so far offside that he might well have been out of his line of vision.

It could have got worse and Michael Hale more than once had to be alert to keep out the visitors and they also missed an absolute sitter following a right wing cross. We could so easily have been two or three behind but we were soon to get into the game.

A lot of the good play came from the left with Matt O’Neill heavily involved and O’Neill himself tested the keeper on more than one occasion as did Kyle Lafferty who was proving to be a real threat to the Blackpool defence.

The equaliser wouldn’t come though and we could have easily gone in two down at half time but Hale saved well in the last minute of the half. It was just about the last thing he had to do all night.

The second half belonged to Burnley and we dominated from start to finish but the only goal came midway through the half when Marc Pugh was sent clear with a superb through ball, he drew the keeper off his line and chipped the ball over him.

We were causing them real problems now and Cayne Hanley had one superb run whilst Lafferty almost got on the end of a couple of Pugh crosses. The two strikers were both substituted and one of the subs Alex Taylor had a great chance just after coming on but from the right hand side couldn’t direct his shot and it went wide of the far post.

That was just about the last chance and Blackpool will return home very fortunate to have taken a point with them.


The teams were,

Burnley: Michael Hale, Joel Pilkington, Neal Trotman, Ryan Townsend, Paul Scott, Marc Pugh, Nicky Platt, Mark Yates (Joe Booth 60), Matt O’Neill, Kyle Lafferty (Rob Henry 69), Cayne Hanley (Alex Taylor 80). Subs not used: Mark Crossley, Martin Reilly.

Blackpool: Lee Jones, Leam Richardson, Paul Parle, James Foran (Matt Lawlor 70), Phil Doughty, Rob Clare, Simon Wiles (Ryan Watson 79), Stuart Anderson, John Murphy (Sean Patterson 45), Matt Shaw, Jamie Burns. Subs: Lewis Edge, Kevin Brown.


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