After a magnificent start to the Premier League season, Ian Holloway's Tangerine Dream looked to be coming to a halt, but a 1-1 result at White Hart Lane has given Blackpool renewed hope in the relegation dog fight.Pre match, it was difficult to see anything other than a Spurs win as a viable result to this game, and the early looks of anxiety on the face of Blackpool manager Holloway indicated that he wans't particularly confident either.
However, in Charlie Adam Blackpool possess a really inspirational captain, one capable of leading them out of the relegation mire and into a second successive Premier League campaign. Adam has been superb this season, though in the past few weeks criticism has been thrown his way by several different parties, including his manager.
Undeterred, Adam was still confident enough to take a seventy-fifth minute penalty, which was saved by a sprawling Gomes. With barely a tremor, Adam ran to collect the ball and take the subsequent corner, which Taylor-Fletcher latched onto, before being up ended by Gallas. Another penalty, and Adam, gesticulating towards his armband, took it, this time lashing a shot into the net.
The Blackpool end of the ground erupted with joy, Adam sprinting towards the travelling support slapped his hand over the club's crest, and continually pointed to his armband, the message was clear, "I'm captain and I love this football club."
If Blackpool do stay up, then surely Adam's emotionally charged celebration will be remembered as one of the highlights of what has been a terrific season for the seaside club.
A win would have been brilliant for Holloway's men, but Spurs were determined not to fall to what would have been their most ignominious defeat since an embarrassing home loss to Wigan Athletic on only the third match day of the season. In that fixture the year before, Jermain Defoe had scored five, one more than his total for the whole of this season, though it was Defoe who eventually found the equalizer earlier today, with a rasping effort from twenty-five yards.
Defoe's failure to score goals this season will be high up on the list of excuses for a year which will now undoubtedly end with the Lily Whites dropping back down to the Europa League. Between themselves, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe and Crouch have scored fewer goals combined than Defoe's tally last season, a remarkable statistic, embarrassingly dire. City meanwhile, boast a striker currently second in the Premier League top scorer charts, and it is likely to be Tevez, not any of the Spurs front men, who finds himself in the Champions League next season.
Certainly, this result is a much better one for Blackpool than it is for Tottenham Hotspur, the Tangerines are out of the relegation zone, and a win next week at home to Bolton would all but mathematically guarantee safety. The man who will make the headlines after this latest result is, obviously, the man who has made them all season long: Charlie Adam. The Scotsman showed true bravery in the way he so confidently chose to take his second penalty just minutes after a miss, a mark of the character that the man possesses. Up or down, Blackpool are likely to lose Adam for next season, but their fans will not turn against him, Adam has defined everything admirable about Blackpool this year, and deserves to go down in folklore along with former greats like Stanley Matthews and Jimmy Armfield.
Will Blackpool stay up?
Where is Adam likely to move?
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