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By Chris Whyatt
2210: With Blackpool in ninth, West Brom in sixth, and Newcastle in seventh, that's the first time in 10 years that all three newly-promoted clubs have been in the top half of the Premier League table at this stage of the season. And that's rich reward for their attacking ambition. "It's an absolute circus this division," continues Holloway. He means that in a positive way! Great from him, as ever. That's it from me. Enjoy your full match report from Phil Dawkes and I'll catch you soon.
2206: Blackpool manager Ian Holloway: "That [sending off] ruined the game as a spectacle. I would've preferred to see just a yellow card and a penalty. When there was 11 v 11 we looked a really good side. And 13 points at this stage of the season. The critics got it wrong again. We're going to improve and keep getting better."
nikki7luc on 606: "Pure class, proud to watch that game be an advert for our Premier League. Well done to both teams for a fantastic game - shame there had to be a winner really! What a great attitude by Albion to keep going with just 9 men and show everyone how good a team they are. Both these teams will stay up and the league will be better for it."
2202: Blackpool captain Charlie Adam on Sky Sports: "We made hard work of it. But it's great to get that first win at home. It was actually harder against the nine men. They sit there with two banks of four. You have to win games ugly and tonight we've done that".
2157: Better entertainment you will struggle to find on a Monday night. Nine-man West Brom, who are now sixth, deserve huge credit for making a game of that. But Blackpool - up to ninth - must be championed too. Both teams love to play attacking football the right way. Negativity is not a part of their thinking.
2154: FULL-TIME - BLACKPOOL 2-1 WEST BROM
2152: Which comes to nothing amid scenes that resemble a brilliant pub football cup final. Carson races back just in time to defend his goalmouth once more.
2151: This is sensational. Scott Carson makes an incredible save from Grandin then lets it up for pitch for an injury-time corner...
2148: Too close for comfort for Blackpool as West Brom go so close to an equaliser. So close. Dorrans cannot make a connection from five yards out as the ball pinballs machines around the box... and then Reid fires over from close range. Agonising.
2145: Blackpool looking to kill this off, but DJ Campbell hesitates to shoot with his left foot and Charlie Adam - who is always available to take the ball - cannot fashion a lesson for his team-mate with his right foot.
2143: Great goal too. Jerome Thomas bursts free, forcing Gilks to hack clear at his feet. The ball is then headed back to Mumulbu who, after a series of effective stepovers, lashes the ball into the top corner with his right foot. Brilliant attitude from WBA.
2142: GOAL! BLACKPOOL 2-1 WEST BROM. COMEBACK ON?
2139: Superb work from Carson to prevent a third as he claws the slippery ball, with a little help from Shorey, off the line from Carney's dangerous cross. Blackpool had players queuing up to knock it over.
2135: Frustration boiling over for the Baggies. Chris Brunt has just kicked a big hole in the advertising boards. Scharner is then booked. Blackpool heading up to ninth in the Premier League...
2131: That's like watching Brazil (albeit against nine men). Seriously. Charlie 'Ronaldinho' Adam successfully knocks a 'no-look' pass through to substitute Craney. He draws two defenders before lifting a little feathery dink through for Grandin, though despite nice movement he can only crash a powerful shot into the boisterous crowd.
2127: Roberto Di Matteo's jaw is going into overtime with the chewing gum. He looks like a man whose side have missed out on the chance to move into a Champions League position. DJ Campbell tries a Javier Hernandez-style backwards header, but it goes over. Never afraid to be innovative are Ian Holloway's players.
2123: Looks like the angry lion has been tamed then. And that's a lovely second. Vaughan clips a lovely chip over a flummoxed defender but before he can collect it himself team-mate Grandin nicks off his toes to fire a low cross over for Varney to slide in with ease. Real delight to see that kind of invention from Vaughan; that's a Total Football assist.
2121: GOAL! LUKE VARNEY! BLACKPOOl 2-0 WEST BROM
2119: Did Varney himself just stamp into a tackle on Mulumbu? Was certainly aggressive. Really restless, gladiatorial vibe at Bloomfield Road. Adam has a go with his weaker right foot but that's way over the bar.
2116: Nearly. Varney heads into Carson's arms from Vaughan's accurate cross. Yet again, either side and that's a likely goal.
2112: Possibly, on this evidence. Jerome Thomas goes so close to sneaking an equaliser, Eardley desperately blocking the shot he manages to get off after very sloppy play from the hosts. The locals aren't happy - but they are just over 30 minutes away from an historic first top-flight victory AT BLOOMFIELD ROAD since 1971.
2107: Inspired stuff. Blackpool centre-half Evatt lashes a volley towards goal in the style of an on-song Josimar. But it cannons off Mulumbu's back. The hosts need another goal here. If - as the cliches goes - it's sometimes harder to play against 10 men, does that mean it's yet more difficult against nine?
2104: Peep! We're under way again at Bloomfield Road as the ubiquitous Charlie Adam screws a left-foot missile well wide. Apart from the game and even more players to ill discipline, West Brom have nothing to lose here.
2100: So, Charlie Adam is the second player to score three penalties this season in the Premier League. The other is Sunderland's Darren Bent. But perhaps even more pertinent, is that - our good friends at Infostrada also inform me - West Brom have failed to score in the first half of all their five league matches this season. Meaning they are more likely do to so in the second 45 minutes...
2055: Sympathy? Scanning through all your 606 comments and the texts and there's not much for the referee - but even less so for Jara, whose red card was completely needless just when his team needed to keep their heads. But there's much admiration out there for the way West Brom have adjusted to being down to nine. Can they pull off an amazing comeback? Something like that would have to come from the kind of team spirit no billionaire owner can buy...
MattZalier on 606: "WBA have looked the best side in the past 10 minutes. All to play for, I think, in the second half..."
2047: THAT'S HALF TIME - BLACKPOOL 1-0 WEST BROM
2044: Remarkably, the depleted visitors are bossing possession. And that's a really nice, almost training-ground passing move from back to front with Dorrans eventually heading Shorey's cross into the grateful arms of Gilks. Either side and we could have had an equaliser. Treacherous underfoot now. Mini-lakes forming...
2039: But West Brom still manage to zip some slick passes about with Nicky Shorey and Jerome Thomas, and now Dorrans, to the fore. No bodies in the box though. DJ Campbell looks bang on form, although cannot connect properly with Varney's teasing low cross and the ball is fished out of row Q. It' so wet out there in Lancashire.
2035: Pretty apocalyptic this for the visitors. The heavens have really opened and sodden striker Marc-Antoine Fortune tramps off the pitch to be replaced by midfielder Graham Dorrans. Shame really as both these teams really like to play football. West Brom, don't forget, have drawn at Old Trafford and won at Arsenal this season.
2032: Gonzalo Jara - what was that about? Deserved to go, the little Chilean. He did a very good impression of a vicious pair of scissors as, racing towards Luke Varney near the corner flag, he jumps towards him with two feet off the ground. No damage to the Blackpool striker but that just looked nastier and nastier on the replays. Damage limitation for the Baggies now?
2029: JARA STRAIGHT RED CARD! WBA DOWN TO NINE MEN...
2024: Crazy! Home goalkeeper Matt Gilks pushes WBA midfielder Chris Brunt's over-hit free kick back into play to present Fortune with an awkward chance from two yards out. He cannot adjust quick enough to convert though. That was a bizarre, but they get away with it - as a wry smile from Gilks tells us.
2018: All Blackpool. So much movement, and now they have a lot of free space to exploit. Bound to be a bit of debate as to whether referee Michael Oliver - the youngest ever in the Premier League - was too draconian there. It's touch and go. Striker Simon Cox, on his Premier League debut, was sacrificed by WBA manager Roberto Di Matteo by the way. Midfielder Steven Reid took his place.
2013: BLACKPOOL 1-0 WEST BROM Real drama. Charlie Adam slots the spot-kick low past Carson to put the hosts ahead, but was that a red card? A penalty. Yes. Just. Adam pinged a great pass in for the onrushing DJ Campbell to spin cleverly through Ibanez, who dragged him over as he turned to catch him. But it's so early in the match, and wasn't really a case of 'last man'. Gonna be a tough night for the Baggies now you'd think...
2010: PENALTY TO BLACKPOOL. PABLO IBANEZ IS SENT OFF!
2006: Blackpool have settled better. Very slick surface out there. Should help with the positive passing favoured by both teams. Charlie Adam is clattered by Jara! Premier League debutant Simon Cox forces a great low save from Matt Gilks. Ball straight down the other end...
2004: Lively start. Nice through-ball nudged onto Luke Varney but the Blackpool forward is wrongly flagged for offside. Raucous in the stands, despite the swirling wind and rain. Illuminations blaze away less than a mile down the road. Monday night? Great atmosphere.
2000: Sea of orange, another sell-out at Bloomfield Road, and we are indeed under way...
1957: "I love Blackpool. We're very similar. We both look better in the dark," said Tangerines boss Ian Holloway not too long ago. He just keeps those incredible quotes coming, doesn't he? Nice hug between him and opposite number Roberto Di Matteo, we're ready to go.
1951: These two teams played each other twice last season, in the Championship, and there were 10 goals over the course of that 180 minutes. More of the same please. Have loved watching Charlie Adam this season. Reminds one of a Lee Trundle-type character. Great skill and real passion for the game. Having a wee situation with his employers at the moment, though...
1947: So, high-flying West Brom made 11 changes from the team that beat Fulham 2-1 last weekend for the midweek Carling Cup game at Leicester - but still came out 4-1 winners. But manager Roberto Di Matteo reverts to his more favoured line-up tonight, making two changes from the victory over the Cottagers. Striker Simon Cox makes his first ever Premier League start in place of injured midfielder James Morrison, while Pablo Ibanez comes in for the injured Jonas Olsson in defence. Influential Blackpool captain Charlie Adam has recovered from an ankle injury to start for the Seasiders, who make one change from the side that lost 2-0 at Birmingham last weekend. Striker Elliot Grandin returns in place of Marlon Harewood.
1944: You lot cannot be caught out. I obviously meant that Blackpool haven't won in the top-flight of English football for nearly four decades - AT BLOOMFIELD ROAD. Their home ground. Where, incidentally, it's absolutely sheeting it down. Quarter of an hour until kick off. Time to digest those team-line-ups properly...
1934: Yep, Blackpool haven't won in the top-flight of English football - at Bloomfield Road - for nearly four decades. So can the club who were tipped by many to be playing in the third tier this season break that duck tonight against their fellow promotees West Brom who, by the way, are bidding to move ahead of gazzillionaires Manchester City into fourth place in the Premier League? Let me know the answer on 606 or on SMS via 81111 (UK) or +447786200666 (worldwide).
1930: The last time it happened was back in 1971, on 26 April. At the other end of the country, down in Bristol, little Ian Holloway has just turned eight (and is no doubt already charming and amusing anyone he comes into contact with). Glam rock and Motown are making waves in the pop charts. So. I am, of course, referring to...
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