Championship
Tuesday 17th April 2012 – Kickoff: 2000hrs
Blackpool will be keen to return to winning ways when they host Leeds at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday night, following two frustrating draws.
The Seasiders have been held to a 1-1 and 0-0 draw against Barnsley and Nottingham Forest respectively which has delayed cementing the Lancashire outfit’s play-off place and has added that little bit more pressure on them.
However, Blackpool have lost just once in their last seven matches which was an away defeat at Reading which is no disgrace, but they must bounce back with a win with the likes of Middlesbrough, Brighton, Leicester City and Hull City waiting in the wings to make a late claim for a play-off berth.
Blackpool’s home record stands at 11-7-3 37/21 and they’ve already beaten Southampton and Reading, along with draws against Birmingham City and Cardiff City, whilst losing to West Ham. So, you can see their record against the other top five teams at home isn’t bad.
The return from injury of Gary Taylor-Fletcher (7 goals, 10 assists) will certainly be a boost to them along with Ince (6 goals, 5 assists), Crainey (6 assists) and Baptiste (5 assists) providing the ammunition.
Visitors Leeds will have also been boosted by their 4-1 home win over Peterborough United on Saturday to give them a much-needed win, but it all appears to be too little too late for them this time around.
Their away form recently has been a bit sketchy with losses at league leaders Reading which is understandable but they previously lost at Coventry City back in February. Draws at Portsmouth and Hull City have held them back from making a late charge despite wins at Bristol City, Middlesbrough and Millwall.
Their away record stands at 8-6-7 30/25, and their inconsistency has held them back this term. However, they do possess one of the most potent attacking personnel in the form of McCormack (18 goals, 6 assists), Snodgrass (13 goals, 14 assists) and Becchio (10 goals) and they can still cause some serious problems up front.
If Leeds can keep hold of these three, and keep them fit, they will be one of the favourites to go up next year I daresay. Becchio missed quite a large portion of the season through injury and I think it would be fair to say that Leeds missed his contributions.
Blackpool need all three points in this one to keep up with the pace and fight off any gate-crashers and they’ll want to put it to bed against Leeds rather than wait for the local derby against Burnley or away at Millwall last game of the season. I’ll back Blackpool to edge it tonight 2-1.
Main Pick: Blackpool straight win @ 1.80 Coral
Value Pick: Blackpool AH-1 @ 2.31 Pinnacle
