After returning from the USA, Evertonians now have a more traditional summer trip closer to home to look forward to as the Blues head to Blackpool on Sunday. Frank Lampard’s side take on Michael Appleton’s Championship outfit at Bloomfield Road but the two teams will do well to match their modern day classic from 2011 which the BBC’s Owen Phillips hailed as “a quite awesome match at a rain-soaked Goodison Park, full of incident, controversy and free-flowing, no-holds barred attacking football.”
Just say the name Blackpool and for many it immediately conjures up a cornucopia of colourful images in their minds and probably a huge dollop of nostalgia. From the iconic Tower and its ornate ballroom with Wurlitzer organ to the more base pleasures of ‘Kiss me quick’ hats, sticks of rock and saucy postcards along the Golden Mile plus donkeys and deckchairs on the beach, it’s nostalgia by the ‘bucket-and-spade-ful’ for a bygone age of the great British holiday.
Blackpool playing in the upper echelons of English football also conjures up memories of days gone by with the ‘Stanley Matthews’ FA Cup final in the 1953 coronation year – even though Stan Mortensen scored a hat-trick – and for Everton the Tangerines would provide them with goalkeeper Gordon West and midfielder Alan Ball the following decade. Charismatic West Country gaffer Ian Holloway found the right blend by the seaside in his debut season in charge in 2009/10 though and turned back the clock to steer Blackpool into the top flight for the first time since in 1971 with promotion via the play-offs – thanks to some help from on-loan Blues right-back Seamus Coleman.
READ MORE: Farhad Moshiri sent two word message that Everton fans, club legends and Frank Lampard all agree on
READ MORE: Everton signed player in 'complete shock' thanks to landmark deal and Cream sponsorship shun
When they met for a league fixture at Goodison Park for the first time in almost 40 years and with the Irishman now back turning out for his parent club, Everton and Blackpool produced a scoreline that went even further back as it was the first 5-3 at the ground since Portugal also came from behind to defeat North Korea in the quarter-finals of the 1966 World Cup. Just as then, the victors would have a four-goal hero with Eusebio’s mantle being taken up by Louis Saha in the much wetter conditions of a Merseyside winter.
The Parisian striker, who was already 32 by this point, had been brought to the club back in 2008 in a ‘pay as you play’ type deal due to past injury woes but the ECHO’s David Prentice argued that despite Moyes claiming this was his “most-complete” squad, no Premier League side at this point relied as heavily on one man as Everton did on Saha. He wrote: “When Louis Saha is firing, so too do the Blues. When Louis Saha is not fit or not firing, Everton lack the cutting edge to convert all their excellent approach work into victories.
“Injured on the opening day against Blackburn, Louis Saha didn’t start a match until November or celebrate a goal until January. And Everton suffered. But the difference that match fitness and confidence brings to Louis Saha’s game, and Everton’s, is enormous.
“The Blues have lost once in their last seven matches since Saha started scoring again. And here they converted another match with the potential to become a frustrating, if wildly exciting, draw, into a thoroughly deserved three points. The difference, ultimately, was their Gallic charm.”
Saha was on it from the start and he fired Everton in the lead on 20 minutes with a smart left-foot finish from 12 yards out from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov’s low left wing cross. Blackpool went into the break level though as the Blues failed to clear a Charlie Adam corner and after Ian Evatt’s shot rebounded off the post, Leighton Baines could only hook the ball into the path of Alex Baptiste who finished from point blank range on 37 minutes.
With Saha denied another goal before the interval after referee Kevin Friend refused to play advantage, it only took Everton two minutes in the second half to restore their lead with Saha poking in a right foot shot from Baines’ left wing cross. However the Blues temporarily lost their way through a quickfire double blow through unmarked debutant Jason Puncheon (62) and a Charlie Adam diving header (64) after the ball rebounded off the crossbar from DJ Campbell’s shot.
Everton, who had seen shots from both Marouane Fellaini and Jack Rodwell cleared off the line in the second half, drew level through Saha’s (perfect) hat-trick goal on 76 minutes with a close range header from Mikel Arteta’s corner-kick. The goal that restored the Blues’ lead three minutes later was sublime as Baines set it up with a delivery on his weaker right foot which was struck sweetly into the net on the volley by substitute Jermaine Beckford and Saha sealed the win six minutes from the end, picking up the ball from Fellaini in the left wing position and dribbling inside to clip the ball in with his left foot.
READ NEXT:
Everton tipped to make 'bargain' transfer move for Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe
Doucoure gives honest opinion on Everton season and offers Lampard tactics insight
Farhad Moshiri has just been sent stark double reminder of Everton 'reality'
Lampard is right about Everton transfers as fears over Moshiri pledge linger
Gordon opens up on ambitions, what's left him feeling 'old' and Minnesota defeat
