Blackpool 0 - Millwall 1 (Back to Report Lists) I worked with a bloke, many moons ago, who, when delighted with something he may have heard or read or seen on the TV would exclaim loudly, “suck my cock, it’s Blackpool rock”. That exclamation would do very nicely thank you after Saturday’s rock solid performance. A bit like Blackpool’s famous tower, it was a hard slog getting there, not too pretty to look at, quite exhausting, but worth it in the long run. The defence saw a welcome return of Robbo in place for the beleaguered Phillips but Pidgers was still between the sticks, Lord help us, but with Shaw, Senda and Craig you had to have some semblance of what a back four should look like. The midfield looked quite resilient with Brammer, Ardley, Elliott & Brighton backing up Byfield and Harris in attack. Before the game started the PA announcer started whittling on about a past player who we learned was a chap called Jock Dodds. It was soon apparent that this fellow had passed away and was something of a hero at Blackpool. It gives me much pleasure to report that the 900 odd Millwall fans in attendance behaved meticulously when the minute’s silence was held. Well done to all and sundry. The actual stadium at Bloomfield Road is a bit of a disgrace. Along one side and behind one goal a continuous structure looks reasonably impressive as you approach the place but then when you see that behind the other goal is nothing but wasteland and the away section along the other touchline is on a par with Brighton’s Withdean stadium, you realise that the place is a bit of a shit hole. Is Oyston still the chairman or is he still in gaol? Either way, someone needs to get hold of the place and finish what was started. The pitch was a quagmire covered in sand and was definitely not conducive to the attacking football we enjoy at the Den… The game started in a flurry of action as both sides did their best to carve out some decent chances but the pitch was always going to be the winner. Up at Oldham we had the pleasure of giving stick to a fan affectionately known as ‘Baygee’. I think his half wit brother was in attendance at Blackpool only he was wearing a white top that made him stand out like Kunte Kinte at a Ku Klux Klan meeting. He got plenty of stick, probably not the same amount as Kunte would have got, you understand, but metaphorically speaking, he got plenty. When Blackpool put the ball into the net after only four minutes, the whistle had already blown for off side and it wasn’t even debatable. But ‘Whitey’ didn’t know and he was dancing around like a demented berserker who had come home early from raping and pillaging to find his wife had run off with the local horn maker. He wasn’t so quick to leap around a minute later when again the Blackpool striker failed to beat the off side trap but still put the ball in the net as a show of petulance. The ref gave Parker a good finger wagging but didn’t book him. Oh dear. How sad. Never mind. The Seasiders were slightly on top, it is fair to say, but they had no idea how to crack open our solid looking defence and we soon began to get into our stride with Brammer looking more and more the part and Danny Senda again performing brilliantly. We were playing pretty good pass and move football on a pudding of a pitch and we nearly took the lead after a quarter of an hour when Tom Brighton just missed the target from a header after a delightful corner from Ardley. The pressure was slowly building from Millwall and the Blackpool back line were constantly run ragged. They began resorting to cynical tackles and it was from one of these that referee Woolmer awarded a free kick after baby Boy took a kick to his ankles out on the right wing. The resulting free kick was taken quickly by Ardley who chipped a quick ball into the box. Michael Jackson (yes Essex Exile, he is still wearing the No. 5 shirt), attempted a clearance but only managed to head the ball out to Brammer who from about 25 yards caught it straight on the volley and it flew into the net past the flat footed Evans. 0-1! What a screamer of a goal! I hope someone can post the video of this goal; it must be in contention for our goal of the season at the very least . We went E-I-O ing all over the place. Whitey and his pals looked on forlornly, stuck in that fuck awful place of knowing your adversaries have stuffed you up good and proper and there aint bugger all you can do about it. Harris nearly got us a second when he got on the end of another beautiful cross from Ardley only to see Evans make a decent save. When Blackpool had a third offside goal disallowed (it was even more blatant than the first two) it just about summed up Blackpool’s first half performance. We looked superb and were never in any real danger at all. Once again, it is my sad duty to report that MrsB and me didn’t clap eyes on any MISA members during the half time interval but we did see HPS and Dartford after the final whistle. Real Millwall, you see, they’ll always be there. The second half carried on in much the same vein as the first with Millwall carving out some decent chances trying to add to the precarious one goal advantage. Danny Senda was really beginning to shine and he was the instigator that started a really classy move when he collected the ball deep in his own half, sprinted away down the wing, found Harris in support who in turn played an exquisite pass to the always impressive Ardley whose control was superb. Ardley then sent over another of his inch perfect crosses, which was met by Byfield, whose header just didn’t do enough to get the right side of the post. Senda again was involved in another fine passage of play when he beat about four players with a surging run up the right wing but his cross just eluded the in rushing Elliott for what looked like a certain goal. Blackpool tried shaking things up with a couple of substitutions but it made no real difference at all. To be honest, plenty of Millwall fans were now urging oor Wullie to make a few changes himself with Williams, Hackett and Zebroski available to inject plenty of pace, warming their arses on the bench. But as we know, oor Wullie is his own man and he firmly believed that we could wait a while longer before changing anything. And he was proven to be right, as Millwall seemed to gain a second wind, Harris almost scoring with a header from the excellent Brammer’s free kick with about 15 minutes left on the clock. It was looking like it would be Millwall’s day as Blackpool huffed and puffed but came up with nothing to breach the stalwart defences of the rejuvenated Lions. The substitutions finally took place in the dying minutes with Zebroski and Williams entering the fray merely to wind down the clock. And then, with the seconds ticking away for safety and three well-deserved points, disaster nearly struck. Lenny ‘rush goalie’ Pidgeley saw his dramatic efforts once again set up a certain goal for Blackpool. His attempt at saving a nondescript effort teed the ball up nicely for the grateful Morell who must’ve been celebrating the equaliser in his mind as he hit a perfect strike towards the keeperless goal. But our very own Chinese taxi driver Rick Shaw was there to thwart the attempt with a heart stopping goal line clearance, hooking the ball away, and with it, any chance of a Blackpool equaliser. The ref finally blew up after another torturous bout of stoppage time and the Lions had done it again. Another away day win and the only blot on February’s copybook was the defeat at home to Orient. That one defeat has probably saved oor Wullie from the dreaded curse of the manager of the month award so it looks like every cloud really does have a silver lining. After the game we were held in for five minutes or so to allow the home fans to disperse. Once again the local plod got it all wrong. They let us out but forgot to disperse some of the more boisterous Blackpool fans that fancied their chances against the notorious Millwall fans. Oh dear. I’ve never seen a mob run so fast in all my life. There was a half marathon due to take place on Sunday and I reckon some of these fuckers were still running then. What on earth did they think would happen? Did they expect the old bill to stop our lot? The trouble is, the old bill only know one way to stop this sort of thing. They start hitting Millwall fans, young or old, male or female, it doesn’t matter whom, with big sticks and bigger horses. Oh how we laughed at such shenanigans… Anyway, it all calmed down after about two minutes of high jinks and me and MrsB made our way back to our hotel, happy in the knowledge that the Millwall bandwagon is now firmly back on track. We did go up the famous tower and just to remind us of how supporting Millwall tests your resolve, we took the walk of faith over the glass floor. We also visited Louis Tussaud’s waxworks and no, Marvin Elliott wasn’t on show. We also went into Ripley’s believe it or not and found that there was indeed a recorded case of a footballer with conjoined legs, so Mark Phillips isn’t unique after all. We now have three home games coming up with Cheltenham first up, Crewe on Tuesday and Carlisle the following Saturday. All the ‘C’s. lets hope we don’t perform like a bunch of ‘C’s then, eh Wullie? No more Orients…please???