Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers at Bloomfield Road as goals from Shayne Lavery and Jerry Yates earned a Lancashire derby victory for Neil Crictchley's men
Saturday 2 October 2021 18:53, UK
Blackpool made it three wins from four after they defeated Blackburn 2-1 in a hotly-contested Lancashire derby at Bloomfield Road.
The Tangerines led 2-0 at half-time as Shayne Lavery scored his fifth goal of the campaign before Jerry Yates added their second.
Blackburn reduced the deficit early in the second half through the Championship's in-form striker Ben Brereton Diaz, who has six goals in his last three matches.
But their efforts to claim a point proved futile as they succumbed to a second consecutive league defeat for the first time this season.
Blackpool took an early lead as Lavery capitalised on a mistake from Tyler Magloire before his shot deflected off Daniel Ayala and looped over Thomas Kaminski.
Neil Critchley's side doubled their advantage through substitute Yates, who had only been on the pitch for two minutes when he anticipated the rebound from Gary Madine's header to poke home from close range.
Blackburn responded after the break and pulled one back through Brereton Diaz, who got his 10th league goal of the campaign.
Blackburn were suddenly in the ascendancy and both Joe Rothwell and Brereton Diaz tried their luck from distance.
Blackpool suffered a setback when goalkeeper Chris Maxwell was forced off in the 62nd minute.
Blackburn continued to press for an equaliser, Tayo Edun going close as he attempted a low cross to the back post that trickled wide.
Tony Mowbray's side thought they had secured a dramatic equaliser in the closing stages when a deep cross directed towards the Brereton Diaz was creeping under the crossbar, but substitute goalkeeper Stuart Moore bravely claimed the ball to deny the forward.
Blackpool's Neil Critchley: "I am very pleased. I thought it was a good game, a good derby full of energy and drama. I thought we were fantastic first half, played some good football and were deservedly winning at half-time. Second half we've had to show a lot of character, plenty of resilience and a little bit of misfortune with players going off. It disrupted us, no doubt about that but the players that came on gave good performances as well.
"Overall, it's been a good few weeks and we're delighted with the three points. We've got a nice little break to look forward to. He's (Lavery) a real threat. You can see when he gets down the side of defenders, one versus one he is very hard to handle. He's always moving across the lines and his movement can cause lots of problems."
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "We prepared the team for what we expected, let's give Blackpool some credit for the way they came out of the blocks. Were we second best in the first half? Undoubtedly. There was frustration in the dressing room at half time. Because the team are young, and have been doing alright, these are harsh, but good, lessons that not every game is a nice game of football, there are days when you have to roll your sleeves and it becomes man on man.
"Their (Blackpool's) mentality would have been as an underdog, rightly or wrongly, and that's how I portrayed it to the team and how an underdog fights and scraps for every ball. There were too many turnovers, too many balls going towards our own goal rather than theirs, and we managed to turn that around in the second half and if anything that's a slight on the team that they can lift it so much."
