City recorded another superb away victory thanks to Kyel Reid’s neatly taken second half strike. It was a tough game for both sides on a difficult surface, and it never looked like being a one-sided affair. The win was watched by over 3,000 City fans who had made the trip West to the coast and it is three points that takes Phil Parkinson’s men up to seventh and within a point of the play-off places.
The Bantams almost went ahead through Tony McMahon, a player who skippered Blackpool during parts of last season. Lee Evans delivered a cross which was allowed to bounce in the box and McMahon’s volley deflected behind for a corner kick.
Blackpool then came close through former City winger Mark Yeates, who moved to Bloomfield Road from Oldham Athletic earlier in the season. After seeing a free kick come back off the wall, he looped a shot on the volley towards goal that Ben Williams watched all the way and held alertly.
Mark Cullen - a one-time City loanee - had a couple of attempts in quick succession as Blackpool looked to edge ahead in the first half. His first attempt, a shot into the ground, was held by Williams; and his second a venomous shot from the edge of the box, was blocked superbly by Reece Burke.
Wes Thomas, who enjoyed a brief loan spell at Blackpool earlier in his career, conjured up a lively display and he went close to giving City the lead, and getting his first goal for the club. With his back to goal, he held off his marker before turning towards goal and seeing a fierce drive held onto alertly by Blackpool’s captain and goalkeeper, Colin Doyle.
On the stroke of half time, Yeates came close to getting on the scoresheet once again but he was denied by a piece of individual brilliance by Williams. Picking up the loose ball in the 18 yard box, he curled one towards the far corner, but Williams earned another clean sheet with an important finger-tip save to push the ball onto the bar.
After the break, City were doing all the running early in the second half and Thomas could have given City the lead with the next chance. Will Aimson failed to clear McMahon’s cross and the Birmingham City loanee latched onto the loose ball but fired a shot over the bar from 12 yards out to let the hosts off the hook.
Shortly afterwards, City took the lead and it was another goal from Reid, who scored superbly in the recent away win at Peterborough United. Stephen Darby came marauding forward from right back and got to the edge of the area after beating four players. Urged to shoot by the away following, he opted to lay the ball into the path of Reid who rifled a low shot across goal and into the far bottom corner.
After earlier introducing powerful forward Uche Ikpeazu from the bench, Blackpool then brought on attacking duo Jack Redshaw and Martin Paterson from the bench as they looked for a late leveller. The latter found space in the area, at quite a tight angle from goal, but he still managed to force Williams into a save at his near post.
There were to be a few more notable incidents in the game, but not much in the way of chances; Reece Burke and Steven Davies both went off injured and Blackpool defender Will Aimson was sent off for a second bookable offence following a bit of pushing and shoving with James Hanson, who also received a yellow card in the process.