Bristol City 1 Blackpool 3

Thomas Ince set aside family friendships to put Blackpool firmly back in the promotion race.

Ince scored a second half brace against dad Paul's good pal, City keeper David James before revealing:

"I spoke to Jamo before the game and he wished me all the best. He's still rolling back the years. He played with my dad for England and it's good to see he's still doing it. My dad likes to think he could too of course.

Jamo's nephew was one of my good friends and we still get along and so it was nice to see him. He made one great save from me and kept out quite a lot of our shots which shows he's still got spring in his legs and what a good goalkeeper he is, however old he is. Mind you, our keeper made a few good saves as well."

Grafting midfielder Ince, 20, has picked up his old man's work ethic, but also has some silky skills and pace in his locker that must have had the former England skipper drooling with pride (and envy) as he watched from the stand.

Former Liverpool squad player Ince pegged back Jon Stead's 29th minute opener with a deflected free kick ten minutes after the break that left James wrong-footed and helpless.

Six minutes before the end, the youngster nodded in at the far post for his fifth goal of the campaign as James failed to reach a chipped cross from substitute Brett Ormerod.

Veteran hit man Kevin Phillips sealed the points three minutes later when he buried a five yard volley for his thirteenth goal of the season and Ince said:

"We've got a great blends of youth and experience at the club and the younger players like me are learning lots from players like Brett and the magic LuaLua. We attack teams, home and away, and when you've got the maestro Kev Phillips playing you know he's going to score goals."

Manager Ian Holloway made six changes to the team that suffered a 4-1 midweek mauling at home to West Ham - a performance that he described as the worst of the season, but he was delighted with his team's efforts at Ashton Gate and said:

"We bounced back after a terrible evening which my lads took a little bit personally. They should be really proud of themselves though. If you look at West Ham's budget and our budget, it's a quarter of theirs, but let's see where we are at the end of the season.

Even with injuries I can still produce attacking football that's hard to stop and we showed that by scoring three goals away from home."

As far as Ince was concerned Holloway enthused:

"He's got a fantastic pedigree and he's proving already he's got all sorts of abilities and if he can be a wide man who scores he might end up worth a fortune.

He was never a risk. Because of Liverpool's interest we managed to put him in the Charlie Adam deal and so you lose a very good player like Charlie, but I've managed to pick one up myself."

Bristolian Holloway was also moved by the reception he received from the home support and the former Bristol Rovers player and manager said:

"I was blown away really. I played for the enemy, their enemy. I played as hard as I could and tried as hard as I could. That hasn't always gone down well, but I'm proud of Bristol and at the moment they're the best team in this area and I wish them all the very best."

City have picked up only one point in the last six games and they are now firmly in a relegation scrap. Boss Derek McInnes banned his players from talking to the media after the game and groaned:

"We saw the best and the worst of us today. In the first half we defended with resolve and Blackpool didn't lay a glove on us.

There equaliser was the defining moment and the game started to suit them in the last twenty minutes and they ran out comfortable winners."

The turning point was Blackpool's equaliser and I felt the ref let us down with the award of the free-kick. But we should have defended it better.

A lot of things are going against us at the moment, but there is nothing to gain from feeling sorry for ourselves."

My clipping from the new Sunday paper

My clipping from the today's edition

Memories - Oh Blackpool!

It’s certainly been an interesting week at the seaside.

Blackpool’s emphatic first day 4-0 win at the mighty Wigan combined with a flurry of activity in the transfer market and topped off by the resignation of Chairman Karl Oyston. If they hadn’t chalked up that win, we might have been fooled into believing they were trying to emulate Newcastle!

I remember – many years ago – being sent to watch the Tangerines play against Birmingham in a Christmas fixture. My sister-in-law was hosting a party at her home in Solihull on the evening of the game and so it may well have been New Year’s Eve.

With an order from the paper for 400 words, I was under strict instructions from my missus not to be late for the party and so when the Blues won by seven goals (by, I think, seven different goal scorers) I had what appeared the easiest of jobs.

As I wandered down from the press box I expected it to be a straightforward job; find one of the lucky seven, get some wise words, add in the managers’ quotes and then off to Solihull to write up the report with a bottle of my brother-in-law’s imported beer for company.

Once I had spoken to the managers, I strolled to the players’ entrance to wrap things up.

I had covered a few games at St. Andrews already that season and so knew many of the players. I recall I even had a good angle on at least two of the scorers and so had practically written the report in my head when I was told the Brum boys had already left the stadium.

Apparently they were also off to a party and they disappeared so quickly that they must have left the ground without even taking off their kit.

So from having my pick of seven, suddenly I found myself without any of the main characters to talk to.

Now, after a result like that there is of course one other key player and so it was with some trepidation that I eventually approached the Blackpool team bus.

If I had been the Blackpool keeper that day I think that the last person I would wish to talk to was a representative of Her Majesty’s Press Corps! But, to his eternal credit (and I’m afraid I can’t remember his name – much to my own discredit), he stepped off the coach to talk to me.

After introducing myself and commiserating with him I offered up the opinion (white lie) that he wasn’t really at fault for the goals anyway at which point he smiled and said: “Well at least Ricky didn’t score.”

I’ll have to admit that at this point I was left a little confused – I mean just about everyone else in the stadium had put one past this poor guy that afternoon ... aside from the programme sellers and ... Ricky.

The 'Ricky' in question was Birmingham’s winger Ricky Otto a guy who had served prison time, but who I always found to be very amiable and easy going.

“What’s so special about Ricky?” I asked.

“He’s my cousin,” the keeper replied. “It would have been a nightmare if he’d scored.”

Bingo! Not Pulitzer Prize winning stuff I grant you, but a fun piece that would interest fans of both clubs and raise a smile among most other fans reading the next day’s paper.

If anyone knows the name of the mystery keeper and what he's up to now, I'd love to hear from you.