Now what is it that Pride comes before ..! Well they'll be a few Middlesbrough fans with their faces flat against the floor after tonight's game at the Riverside. The Boro fans on the Blackpool message board before tonight's game would have had Ollie thinking he may as well turn his coach round on the M62 there was so little point on turning up for tonight's game. Instead, the coach left the North East with all three points.

Never play Ian Holloway at Poker because there's no way you can second guess him. Having done match previews for the last 10 years, I have never known a manager as difficult to predict as Ollie. Just when you think you've got the guy sussed, he blows away your predicted team by the time you start with the keeper! Tonight , he surprised everyone with the return of Paul Rachubka along with Ian Evatt, Brett Ormerod, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and a start for Barry Bannan. Interestingly Jason Euell and Hameur Bouazza were relegated to the bench along with Gilks and Neil Eardley.

There's something strange about a team winning 5-1 because the chances of them repeating it in consecutive games is always unlikely and there's always the feeling of 'After the Lord Mayor's Parade' and so was the case during an unbelievable 5 minutes in the first half at the Riverside. The only action involved in the first 15 minutes involved Phil Horner who was called upon to attend to Rob Edwards who'd had a knock after colliding with Dave Kitson. 'Pool played for 5 minutes with just ten men until it was decided that Edwards wasn't going to return and he was replaced by Neil Eardley. It was Kitson who could have opened the scoring moments later but his header went straight in to the arms of Paul Rachubka.

Then came a sublime 5 minutes for 'Pool who made a mockery of Boro's multi-million pound defence. Barry Bannan was involved in both goals and it was his cross on 20 minutes which found Gary Taylor-Fletcher who struck the ball in to the bottom right corner. Within 5 minutes, GTF had made it two thanks to a cross from Charlie Adam and a fine turn saw Brad Jones picking the ball out of the back of the net for a second time. Both Taylor-Fletcher and Ormerod had chances to make it 3-0 but they just failed to hit the target whilst Crainey and Adam both had opportunities from free kicks. Boro's chances were few and far between as they went off to a chorus of jeers at half time.

After the break and Gordon Strachan made a change as former 'Pool loanee Tony McMahon came on and 'Boro started the second half with more pace and desire as they caused the Seasiders problems in the opening stages. Leroy Lita was the main outlet for the home side but it was David Vaughan against the run of play who could have killed the game off but his shot went just wide. Paul Rachubka pulled off a decent save from Gary O'Neil which was the 'Boro players final involvement in the game as he suffered a head injury which added 7 minutes on to the clock. He was replaced by Mark Yeates, who scored those two identical free kicks for Colchester at Bloomfield Road some years ago, who made an immediate impact and put 'Pool under pressure but Chubs was having a good night in goal and took the sting out of what the home side threw at them.

After 83 minutes, Blackpool got the third goal they were desperately seeking but had eluded them. It was Charlie Adam who's inidvidual piece of skill has eluded him the last few games and his winding run ended with him putting the ball in to the same corner where the previous two goals had been scored. The excellent Barry Bannan and Gary Taylor-Fletcher were replaced by Al Bangura and Jason Euell on 84 minutes as the home crowd made the ground look even emptier than it did at the start as the Boro fans drifted home. With just 5 minutes added by Mr Shoebridge, Dave Kitson summed up the home side's night as he put the ball wide of Chubs goal in stoppage time.

It's interesting the first text I received at full time said 'if only we'd won the last two home games', however those are 3 points that few would have expected and more than makes up for the results against Barnsley and Preston. Of course the important thing now is for Ollie's side not to do a 'Boro' and head to Ipswich thinking they're invincible.