ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Blackpool 3 Tottenham 1:TOTTENHAM WENT from San Siro to the seaside in the space of a week and there is little doubt which they found preferable. The conquerors of Milan were subjected to an elegant mugging by Blackpool. Charlie Adam, DJ Campbell and Brett Ormerod condemned Tottenham to a first defeat at Bloomfield Road since 1956.
Forward Sergei Kornilenko, from Zenit St Petersburg, made his debut last night and became the latest in a line of Blackpool signings to make an immediate impact. The Belarus international formed part of a front trio who interchanged at will and with disconcerting zest.
Sebastien Bassong was selected at centre back and he swiftly erred, catching Campbell with a clumsy challenge that resulted in a penalty. Adam converted the shot. The Scot had been the subject of a bid from Spurs on January’s deadline day and Harry Redknapp remains an admirer.
Nevertheless, Adam’s next contribution almost aided his suitors. After Steven Pienaar’s shot was blocked by Craig Cathcart, Adam thumped his attempted clearance back into the South African. It ricocheted back towards the Blackpool goal, narrowly clearing the bar.
Peter Crouch’s reward for his winner against Milan was a place among Tottenham’s replacements. Redknapp’s ingratitude was almost justified, however, when his two chosen strikers combined. Roman Pavlyuchenko, who grabbed a 90th-minute sonsolation strike, freed Jermain Defoe and though Richard Kingson got a hand to the forward’s chip, it would have resulted in an equaliser but for the anticipation and agility of Cathcart. Backtracking furiously, he headed the ball off his own line.
Remarkably, Defoe was thwarted by a second goal-line clearance – Alex Baptiste rescuing Blackpool on this occasion – before a rapid transition from defence to attack that led to Blackpool doubling their lead. Kornilenko’s deft back-heel afforded James Beattie room to cross and an unmarked Campbell was left with a simple tap-in.
Redknapp’s response was to remove Wilson Palacios and replace him with Jermaine Jenas, an arrival that signalled a policy of all-out attack. It could have produced a goal within a minute, with Pienaar sliding a shot wide from Aaron Lennon’s low cross.
Quite how no one applied a finishing touch to tantalising low crosses from first Defoe and then Niko Kranjcar was a mystery. So vibrant beforehand, Blackpool found themselves being pegged back. Having lost leads recently, most notably against Manchester United, there was a nervousness about Bloomfield Road as Spurs advanced time and again.
Kingson remained much the busier keeper and the Ghanaian produced an outstanding reflex save to thwart Pavlyuchenko. Even when he was beaten, Baptiste mustered his second goal-line clearance of the night to keep Luka Modric’s delicate chip out before the substitute Brett Ormerod sealed victory.
GuardianService
BLACKPOOL: Kingson, Eardley, Cathcart, Evatt, Baptiste, Vaughan, Sylvestre (Southern 58), Adam, Campbell, Beattie (Phillips 63), Kornilenko (Ormerod 63). Subs not used: Halstead, Carney, Puncheon, Reid. Booked: Evatt, Adam.
TOTTENHAM: Gomes, Gallas, Dawson, Bassong (Crouch 73), Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios (Jenas 46), Modric, Pienaar (Kranjcar 59), Pavlyuchenko, Defoe. Subs not used: Cudicini, Rose, Sandro, Khumalo.
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).
