Match Zone

Match Preview – Blackpool (H)

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This afternoon sees 22nd-place Blackpool arrive at the Alexandra Stadium for our fifth league game of the season with the Tangerines playing their sixth.

Last Season:

Last season saw them win the first 3 games then draw the following 3 and would be in and around the play-off places until mid-December. They would lose 8 of the following 10 games, they would go 4 games unbeaten before losing the final game of the season – finishing in 13th place on PPG.

They would go out of the Carabao Cup to Macclesfield Town on penalties in the first round while they would get to the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, defeating Morecambe and Maidstone United before losing to Reading in a replay. They would also top their EFL Trophy group that contained Wolves Under-21s, Morecambe and Carlisle United before going out in Round 2 to Scunthorpe United.

This season:

They have played 8 games so far this season, a home win against Swindon Town on matchday 2 alongside defeats against Plymouth Argyle, Gillingham, Lincoln City and Ipswich Town in the league, they lost on penalties to Stoke City in the EFL Cup while they have beat Barrow and lost to Accrington Stanley (both on penalties) in the EFL Trophy – they play Leeds United’s Under-21s in the final group game.

Transfers:

Blackpool have made 17 signings in total, 13 on permanent deals, 2 loans until January and 2 loans until the end of the season. Goalkeeper Alex Fojticek joined while defenders Marvin Ekpiteta, Demetri Mitchell, Luke Garbutt as well as Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel (on loan for the season from Nottingham Forest) and Daniel Ballard (on loan from Arsenal until January). Midfielders Oliver Sarkic, Ethan Robson, Jordan Williams and Kenny Dougall all joining as free agents as well as forwards Keshi Anderson, Jerry Yates, CJ Hamilton, Bez Lubala all joined permanently with Dan Kemp joining on a season-long loan and Ben Woodburn joining on a loan until January.

13 players have left the club permanently this summer, including former Alex loanee Michael Nottingham who joined Accrington Stanley last week, while letting 8 more players leave on loan.

Head-to-Head:

Alex Wins: 14
Pool Wins: 14
Draws: 7

Biggest Alex Win: 4-1 at the Alexandra Stadium in August 2004 (League Cup)
Biggest Pool Win: 5-0 at Bloomfield Road in September 1981

Last Meeting:

Blackpool 2-2 Crewe Alexandra, 18th February 2017

Nathan Delfouneso and Tom Aldred would see the hosts into a 2-goal lead inside the opening half-hour before Chris Dagnall would reduce the deficit just after the hour-mark while current Seasider Ollie Turton scoring the equaliser 2 minutes from time.

Alex: Garratt; Turton, Ray, Nugent, Guthrie (Bakayago 76); Jones, Wintle (Ainley 76), Cooke; Bowery, Dagnall (Kiwomya 89), Cooper

Pool: Slocombe, Mellor, Robertson, Aldred (Nolan 51), Aimson, Taylor, Flores, Potts, Daniel (Osayi-Samuel 83), Delfouneso, Vassell (Matt 65)

Played for Both:

The following players have been contracted to both teams:

Goalkeepers: Drew Brand, Mark Gayle, Lee Jones, Jason Kearton, Paul Rachubka, Neil Ramsbottom, Ben Williams

Defenders: Paul Bignot, Marlon Broomes, Louis Cardwell, Joe Cooper, Donervon Daniels, Nigel Hart, Mike Jackson, Kelvin Mellor, Eddie Nolan, Michael Nottingham, Andy Taylor, Paul Tierney, Oliver Turton, Julian Watts

Midfielders: Phil Charnock, Phil Clarkson, Callum Cooke, Colin Daniel, Paul Edwards, David Fox, Steve Garvey, Stuart Green, Frank Hill, Chris Lumsdon, David Vaughan, Nigel Walker, Simon Walton, Sam Whittingham, Phil Williams, Jermaine Wright

Forwards: Andrew Barrowman, Horace Brindley, John Carruthers, Fred Chandler, Ken Chapman, Max Clayton, Jim Cooper, Wyn Davies, Peter Duffield, Wayne Entwistle, Bobby Finan, Alan Fletcher, Riccardo Gabbiadini, Uche Ikpeazu, Steve Jones, Allan Mansley, Murdoch McCormack, Mike Newell, Mark Taylor, Jimmy Thompson, Don Travis, Kevin Tully, Luke Varney, Ashley Ward, Frank Watson, Tom White, Bob Whittingham

Officials:

The officials for this game have been announced here with Peter Wright the referee, Conor Brown and Andrew Hendley are his assistants with Ravel Cheosiaua the fourth official. Here are the Crewe games that have been refereed by Wright in the previous 5 years:

  • Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Grimsby Town (27th October 2018) – Whelan, Miller
  • Crewe Alexandra 2-1 Colchester United (26th January 2019) – Kirk, Nolan
  • Salford City 2-1 Crewe Alexandra (26th December 2019) – Pickering

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