Blackpool hold on to win after Spurs onslaught

Tottenham squander chance after chance in their 3-1 defeat to Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.

Blackpool 3 // Tottenham 1

BLACKPOOL // Blackpool pulled off an impressive victory over Tottenham to move five points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

Charlie Adam, the Seasiders captain, who nearly joined Spurs in January, opened the scoring with a firm penalty in the 18th minute after Sebastien Bassong had fouled DJ Campbell in the box.

Campbell then netted his ninth goal of the season a minute before the interval by connecting with James Beattie's cross before substitute Brett Ormerod netted a third with 10 minutes of normal time remaining, rendering Roman Pavlyuchenko's effort at the death a mere consolation.

The win was remarkable not only in that in brought Tottenham back down to earth after their famous Champions League win over AC Milan last week, but also because the visitors had numerous opportunities to score throughout the 90 minutes at Bloomfield Road.

A couple of goal-line clearances and some superb saves by goalkeeper Richard Kingson kept Spurs out until just before the final whistle, though, as the Seasiders secured three vital points that move them up to 12th in the table.

The result left Ian Holloway, the Blackpool manager, almost speechless he was that pleased with his team after their triumph over Tottenham.

"I don't think there is a word that has been written, printed or ever produced in the dictionary that I can use for how pleased I am," Holloway said.

"For all those scenarios that could have happened, and in the second half, looked like they were going to happen, and how depressed I would have been if they had gone on and taken a few more of their chances, I still don't believe my boys would have deserved that.

"I don't think we got what we deserved against Manchester City or Manchester United here and it looked like Tottenham were going to be too good for us, but we got the third goal at an absolutely vital time."

With 11 games to go in their maiden Premier League campaign, Blackpool have given themselves a real chance of beating the drop, although Holloway believes they will need more than their current tally of 32 points to guarantee survival.

"What my lads are doing and the gaps they are bridging at this level from where we should be is just phenomenal," Holloway added.

"Last season 32 points would have kept us up but we know we are going to need at least a few more, so let's get on with what we have to do next, which is Wolves away."

Harry Redknapp insisted Tottenham were not suffering a hangover from Milan but the manager was heavily critical of their profligacy in front goal.

"We gave a penalty away under no pressure because of a scandalous challenge and then after that we can't convert chance after chance," Redknapp said.

"In the second half, it was incredible watching it – missing chances from four or five yards like it was going out of fashion.

"You expect when you have got good strikers who are goalscorers to stick them in.

"There are balls dropping onto their heads and we are waiting for them to head it into the goal from five yards out and they are not scoring.

"It was just unreal, but that's just how it goes – full credit to Blackpool, they have done fantastic."