Thank-Drew very much! Talbots late goals just enough

This Match Report by Dale...

First game at Hillsborough in 8 years and I'm rapped to see us take three points off an inform Blackpool side. Make no mistake we really didn't play that well today but got the result, and grinding out results is what it's all about at this stage of the season. Now it's been a while since I've been to a game, so let's see how this whole match report thing goes shall we?

Lucas in goal with a back four of Bullen, Heckingbottom, Lee and Wood. Rocastle and Whelan in the middle of the park with Brunt and JP on the wings. Sturrock opted for Quinn upfront with Peacock, Talbot on the bench.

An action packed opening 15 minute period to the game with Lucas going off after 8 minutes with what appeared to be a knee injury coming from a simple, unchallenged ball into the box. Fingers crossed it isn't too serious. Lee came close with a header from a free-kick from the right hand side, and Peacock (I think it was) also had a shot saved.

Adamson kept the scorelines at 0-0 with a fine save after one of their midfield blokes (Wellens?) had split the defence in two. We took the lead after 27 minutes after Rocastle muscled Southern off the ball and played a one two with someone (Peacock?) and charged into the Seasiders box before confidently driving the ball low into the far corner. Adamson again came to the rescue before the break, rushing off his line to block Murphy.

By this time the lad was looking more confident, earlier on he had hesitated coming off his line for one particular attack and his goal kicking was poor. 1-0 at the break.

Half-time: Owls 1-0 Blackpool

Awful start to the second half and the scores were level within two minutes of the restart. We barely touched the ball before a left hand cross was headed right into the top corner by Southern. 1-1. Being on the Kop I couldn't see a hell of a lot, but it looked like it had gone over for a second.

Lee went off 10 minutes later with an ankle injury and replaced by Bruce-junior. 55 minutes gone and only one substitute left. Brunt had a free-kick spilt by the keeper (Brunt's only real contribution to the game in my opinion) and really someone should've been following up. It would've been the easiest of tap-ins.

Talbot came on for Quinn on 65 mins - a brave substituion by Sturrock because any of the four midfielders could've been brought off and wouldn't have too much to argue about. The kid was an inspiration this afternoon. He chased down everything, ran hard, showed good composure on the ball and looked like he really wanted to make an impression. He'd have to be gutted not to get a start next week after today's showing.

With 15 minutes left we got a penalty. One of their blokes ended up going down in his own box and clearly obstructed the ball with his hand whilst on the ground. It didn't look like the ref gave it at first, but a late call from the linesman had the orange shirts up in arms. At this point in the afternoon the referee appeared to lose the plot. It seemed to take forever and a day before Peacock got a chance to take the spot kick, he was telling the keeper to get back on his line but from where I was stood any further back he'd have been in the back of his own net! Very bizarre.

Eventually the ref blew his whistle and Peacock ended up stroking it softly into the keeper's arms. Poor penalty and with just quarter of an hour left it could've cost us important league points.

Bullen should've made it 2-1 - he went un-noticed at the back post but his header was straight into the ground and dealt with easily by their keeps.

Talbot did make it 2-1 after a nice through ball by Whelan. The youngster slid the ball into the corner with no problems. With a minute left Peacock looked set to score but again his shooting was not good enough. His shot was saved from close range but Talbot was on the money to tap it in. 3-1.

At this stage it should've been goodnight and three points thank you very much, but it was to be a nail biting final few minutes of injury time when they grabbed one back to make it 3-2. Not sure what went on with Whelan and their bloke, a clash of heads or something. But apparently he came back on with Matty Hamshaw's shirt. It seemed forever before we got Whelan back on the park.

Those final few minutes were pretty chaotic - the ref just didn't seem in charge by this point. Their keeps cheekily chucked the ball forward 5 yards when the ref turned his back, I can't believe he didn't get booked for that. I didn't see how long the ref played injury time for but it must've been close to five minutes.

A quick glance at the table suggests we should make the play-offs from here on in. Ten points clear of 7th placed Brentford, they have three games in hand but dropped two points at Donny today. It wasn't pretty but job done, just.

Lucas - N/A
Bullen - 8/10 - Nothing fancy but a solid performance by the skipper. Marshalled his troops well at the death amidst chaotic scenes.
Heckingbottom - 7/10 A decent showing and some nice balls down the left-wing
Lee - 8/10 Unlucky not to score early on and looked an threat when he went forward. Won plenty of ball in the air at the back, but my only criticism was that both he and Wood seemed adamant on pumping the ball high up the middle, when we looked better when taking them on down the flanks with the ball on the deck.
Wood - 8/10 Like Lee, looked comfortable at the back today and challenged well in the air, but was lumping the ball to nowhere all too often.
McGovern - 7/10 I've been reading glowing reviews of this bloke, but I'm guessing he wasn't at his best today? Looked sharp early on but had a patchy game. One of our more exciting attacking options in what was a very average performance from the Wednesday midfield.
Whelan - 6/10 I don't know whether he's carrying or an injury, or whether tired legs are setting in, but he wasn't in it. He floated around the park all afternoon and aside from setting up Talbot's goal was almost a liability in the middle. If we'd had more subs I think Adams would've come on for him.
Rocastle - 7/10 This bloke looks like he has potential, but someone needs to teach him how to use his strength properly. Fought hard in the middle but him and Whelan just weren't running the show. Took his goal well and a great run through from midfield.
Brunt - 5/10 Started badly and it got worse, you could see his confidence dropping. Decent free-kick that was spilt by the keeper was about his only highlight.
Quinn - 6/10 Fairly average showing and was in a constant tussle with his marker. Didn't seem to work well with Peacock, with Talbot's performance today he might've blown his chance. Peacock - 6/10 Aside from his finishing he had a decent game. He challenged well in the air and held the ball up well too. Bad penalty and a poor miss in the last minute.

Subs...
Adamson - 7/10 Made a cracking save early after coming on. He looked quite nervous at first (a few dodgy goal kicks) but seemed to become more confident as the game went on. Not too sure how much we can blame him for the two goals either.
Bruce - 6/10 Competent effort from the lad, bit rough to hear fans after the game slagging him off. He didn't clear the ball properly on a couple of occasions, but I'd rather give him a few games before anyone makes any real comments.
Talbot - 9/10 This kid made the difference today. Quinn didn't make an impression but Talbot came on with 25 minutes left and was my man of the match. He ran hard, fought for everything. The kid's got pace and surprising strength for a weedy looking kid, but he looks a smart player too. Wasn't afraid to get stuck in which is more than I can say for some others today. Deserved his two goals.

Ref - 5/10 To be honest I didn't think he was all that bad in the first half. He made the odd dodgy decision but let the game flow reasonably well and didn't brandish yellow cards left, right and centre. Second half he lost the plot and by the end simply wasn't in control.

Healthy looking crowd of about 21,000 (Blackpool contributing about 500 at a guess). Good to be back at Hillsborough after a long time away.

Paul Sturrock's post match comments:
"For some reason we tend to shoot ourselves in the foot and it was panic stations again in the last five or 10 minutes. Worry seems to linger here, the fans go quiet and they're worrying. That worry seems to seep through to the players who start to worry. It's doing my nut in. He (Talbot) has proved to me that he's an invaluable sub at this moment in time."

Craig Rocastle's post match comments:
"It was a massive game. I always felt we were going to win, even after losing a goal, but you couldn't have thought it would end up like that. It was a dream come true to score as that's something I need to add to my game. Once the defender didn't come across, I made my mind up that I was going to shoot and I was over the moon to see it go in."

AnzOwls' verdict:
It wasn't pretty at the best of times, and we seem to love making it hard for ourselves sometimes. But these three points are oh so important.