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Steve Cotterill had hinted that Michael Duff could be left out after playing twice for Northern Ireland in the previous week, but he was there at right back when the teams came out with the only change seeing Jon Harley return for the injured Alan Mahon on the left hand side of midfield.
In front of the biggest home crowd since the visit of Preston in early 2006 we started well enough, taking the game to Blackpool as we attacked the tangerine filled cricket field stand. We'd only one half chance to show for it but at the other end but with our next attack we really should have taken the lead. There was a good build up down the right hand side with Andy Gray releasing Wade Elliott. Wade's cross was a good one and was met by Chris McCann who didn't even hit the target with a header from close range.
Blackpool were having plenty of possession but were hardly threatening us - what they were doing was preventing us from getting enough of the ball to get them under any sort of pressure. It led to a dull period of the game and it only picked up again in the last few minutes of the half when both sides could have scored.
Firstly our front two set up McCann who hit a right footed shot that looked a goal all the way but was just inches out for the Clarets as it smacked against the underside of the bar.
Then Keigan Parker got clear of our defence as just about everyone in the ground waited for the offside flag to go up. Jose Mourinho would have said that you could smell it was offside, certainly everyone in a decent position to judge could see it was. But Parker was allowed to go and thankfully Carlisle got in a good challenge following which Jensen did well to save and prevent a goal, but Parker really should have made certain.
The ball went straight down the other end and an effort from Robbie Blake went just over the bar to the relief of goalkeeper Paul Rachubka and that meant no goals at half time.
Cotterill made a change at half time, brining on Steve Jones for Harley on the left hand side of midfield, and it paid early dividends with Jones giving us the lead. We went at them right from the start of the half. Again McCann should have done better with a header from a Wade cross, once more missing target. Graham Alexander had an effort blocked, and then we took the lead.
Jones lost the ball on the left touchline but recovered it and got it down the line for Blake. Robbie waited his moment, chose his pass, and laid it into the path of Jones who had made a run into the box. Jones took one touch to beat two men before hitting a shot that cannoned in off defender Stephen Crainey. Jones has got the goal even though the shot was going wide without the defender's touch.
This was when we should have made it count, but we didn't put them under anything like enough pressure. We struggled in the midfield against a side that was hard working but lacked inspiration. Even so, the game tilted on two penalty decisions.
Firstly Gray went down under a challenge but referee Mike Dean waved play on. Correct decision or not? I honestly don't know but when Andy Morrell went down at the other end he definitely got it wrong as he pointed to the spot. There was no contact between him and Clarke Carlisle, basically Morrell had conned the referee.
It gave Wes Hoolihan the chance to make his mark on the game and he put the spot kick to Jensen's right, sending him the wrong way. We'd worked so hard to get in front and now we would have to do it again. Ade Akinbiyi came on for Robbie but we just couldn't get back into the game.
Blackpool were having a lot of possession, they still weren't threatening us, but we simply weren't seeing enough of the ball and when we had it we weren't keeping it well enough. As the clock moved towards the end I thought it was going to be a draw.
Then, almost from nowhere, we got what should have been the winner. Wade got the ball in from the right and Ade, with his back to goal, controlled it superbly, turned and hit a right foot shot into the bottom corner.
We enjoyed it, and certainly he did with his first league goal since the 3-0 win against Norwich in April. He enjoyed it so much he decided to take his shirt off as part of his celebration which was noticed by referee Dean and brought with it the mandatory yellow card.
I don't think Ade cared, not sure any of us did, we were 2-1 up and the game was surely won. We reached ninety minutes, the fourth official held up the board showing three extra minutes and then the disaster struck.
Jensen came for a ball. He got to it but didn't hold it and it dropped invitingly for Ian Evatt. Somehow the Blackpool defender managed to make a complete hash of a sitter and that allowed Jensen to drop onto the ball. However, it squirmed from his grasp and this time fell to Morrell who made no mistake.
The away fans celebrated, and to be honest for us it felt like a defeat. We'd been in front twice and we should have won this game. We might not have played as well as we would have liked but we should still have gone on and won it.
There were some disappointing individual performances and looking for a man of the match is not the easiest task. It's difficult to choose a defender given we conceded two goals but that's what I'm going to do. The sponsors gave it to captain Steven Caldwell but I'm choosing his central defensive partner Clarke Carlisle even though that penalty was given against him.
Overall we need to be better than this starting this week with two away games. They'll be equally tough I feel even thought at the moment one of them is bottom of the league and the other one top. I suspect there'll be nothing like that gap between them in a few weeks time.
Let's go and get a win at Hillsborough on Tuesday.
The teams were;
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott (John Spicer 89), Graham Alexander, Chris McCann, Jon Harley (Steve Jones 45), Robbie Blake (Ade Akinbiyi 76), Andy Gray. Subs not used: Gabor Kiraly, David Unsworth.
Blackpool: Paul Rachubka, Shaun Barker, Ian Evatt, Michael Jackson, Stephen Crainey, Keigan Parker (Ben Burgess 71), David Fox, Keith Southern (Michael Flynn 88), Wes Hoolihan, Andy Morrell, Gary Taylor-Fletcher (Andy Welsh 62). Subs not used: Kaspars Gorkss, Scott Vernon.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
Attendance: 16,843.
