Tomorrow Rovers face one of the six former winners of the FA Cup currently in League One, the other five being; Barnsley, Bolton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic, Huddersfield Town and Wigan Athletic.
In terms of league meetings between the sides, this will be number 44 and of the previous 43 meetings Rovers have won 16, Blackpool 18 and nine games have ended all square. As far as goals are concerned, Rovers have scored 54 and Blackpool 62.
The first league meeting between the clubs took place on 28th September 1974 when Blackpool were 3-1 winners at Eastville thanks to goals from Paul Hart, Mickey Walsh (penalty), and Stuart Parker, while Bruce Bannister scored Rovers’ consolation goal, also from the penalty spot. The return fixture at Bloomfield Road, on 15th March 1975, ended goalless.
Blackpool did the double over Rovers last season, winning 3-1 at Bloomfield Road on 23rd December 2023 when former Rovers player Ollie Norburn, Jake Beesley and Jordan Rhodes were on target, while John Marquis replied for Rovers.
A few weeks later, on 20th January 2024, they were 2-1 winners at the Memorial Stadium thanks to goals from CJ Hamilton and Karamoko Dembele while Chris Martin was on target for Rovers. Earlier this season they were 2-0 winners at The Mem when Dom Ballard and Lee Evans were on target.
Before we go any further, then honourable mentions should be given to Alan Ball and Ian Holloway. Ball, a World Cup winner with England in 1966, began his playing career with Blackpool and subsequently moved on to Everton, Arsenal and Southampton and also played in North America. There was also a return to Blackpool, as player/manager, but it was with Rovers that he ended his playing career. He arrived at Eastville in January 1983 and scored twice in 17 league appearances before hanging up his boots.
Holloway enjoyed three spells as a Rovers player, his final stint being as player/manager and in total he scored 42 goals in 397 league appearances for the club.
Including Ball, more than 20 players have turned out for both clubs and three of them, Steve Elliott, Rickie Lambert and Richard Walker, all played for Rovers in the 2007 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final in Cardiff and the Play Off Final at Wembley.
Current Rovers midfielder Grant Ward made 47 league appearances for Blackpool before pitching up at The Memorial Stadium in January 2023, while there is likely to be one former Rovers player in the Blackpool squad in Elkan Baggott who is on a season long loan at Bloomfield Road, from Ipswich, and who scored once in 14 league games for Rovers last season.
Six of the 11 players who have made their Rovers league debut against Blackpool did so in the opening game of the 2019/20 season; Victor Adeboyejo, Tom Davies, Anssi Jaakkola, Luke Leahy, Mark Lyttle and Tyler Smith were all in the side beaten 2-0 at Bloomfield Road.
Current Rovers goalkeeper Jed Ward made his league bow for the club on the final day of the 2020/21 season when Blackpool ran out 1-0 winners at Bloomfield Road.
Almost 35 years to the day (5th May 1990) Rovers travelled to Blackpool knowing that a win would clinch the Third Division title, and goals from David Mehew, Phil Purnell and Paul Nixon secured both the title and a 3-0 victory. The attendance of 6,776 included more than 5,000 Gasheads!
Tomorrow sees both sides playing for pride, really. While Rovers are already relegated, while Blackpool, beaten at home by Birmingham City on Wednesday, have 64 points from their 45 games and will finish in the top ten.
It’s not been a great season for our very loyal fanbase and, as usual, we would like to wish all Gasheads travelling to Blackpool a safe journey there and back. We would also like to thank everyone who has travelled with us on the Supporters Club coaches this season.
UTG!
