Blues unbeaten run ended on Saturday. Andy Munro watched.
It could only happen to the Blues. On a roll and then losing to the bottom of the league side now run by their ex-manager, who had become persona non grata. Having said that, Bloomfield road wasn’t conducive to playing decent football, with a bumpy pitch and in a wind that would make a Sunday parks match in January, on Billesley Common, look like a pleasant stroll in the park.
Gary Rowett kept to his usual policy of trying to stick to the same side and formula but this ploy was stymied by an apparent injury to the new Scottish Glenn Hoddle. It’s often said that you can usually tell how your team’s going to play in the first quarter of an hour and, on that basis, it seemed as if Blues lacked both their usual fluency and urgency. Even so, Blackpool looked a world away from the days of Mad Ollie and the Premier League so it appeared likely that an odd goal would decide the game.
Unfortunately, this went Blackpool’s way when Robbo was uncharacteristically outmuscled in challenging for a long ball and that was enough to settle it. Gray flitted in and out, as young players often do, and, in truth, it would have needed the sort of inspiration that Gray can sometimes provide to make any difference to a generally plodding performance.
Now, there are two ways of looking at this reverse; the negative and the positive. The negative is that it sucks us back into the relegation zone vortex and proves that Rowett has the difficult task of making the proverbial silk purse out of a sow’s ear. However, concentrating on the positives, we have both Ziggy and Wes Thomas to provide new attacking possibilities and also the much acclaimed reborn Shinniesta to return once his minor injury clears up.
It’s possible that the defeat might take a bit of limelight off Gray and give us a better chance of holding onto this undoubted talent. It should also sort out the wheat from the chaff character-wise as we seek to bounce back against Reading. An extra plus might be an extra incentive to Pannu & co. to do some business in case we go into playing meltdown and cease to be any sort of attractive proposition.
Of course, these are small consolation points after a major disappointment. Reservations obviously resurface about the mobility of Robbo in central defence, the ability of Gleeson and Davies to boss midfield, the penetrative powers of Donaldson, the lack of physical presence of young Arthur and the all-round mediocrity of Novak.
However, I think it’s up to everybody, including the fans, to keep a steady ship and a realistic horizon. That must be comfortable survival until a change of ownership release some resources to strengthen.