BLOOM TIME Pool take points

THE ridiculous followed the sublime to leave Blackpool’s promotion dream very much alive at Bloomfield Road.

Sunderland with the experienced Aiden McGeady pulling the strings looked the more likely to break the deadlock in the battle between two sides locked together in the promotion play off zone.

And the Republic of Ireland international thought he had done just that jinking into the area and curling a cleverly executed attempt against the inside of the post.

It was some escape for the home side who then rubbed it in by bursting forward themselves, the break finding Luke Garbutt.

The full-back’s speculative

angled effort from outside the area somehow squirmed past Mackems keeper Lee Burge under pressure from Ellis Simms and his own player Bailey Wright.

It might have been scruffy but Tangerines boss Neil Critchley (right) wasn’t bothered one jot as the unbeaten run was extended to 16 games.

“This is a big three points,” he admitted.

“Over a 46 game season you have to find different ways of winning, of battling and scrapping it out. I thought our players did that extremely well today.

“I haven’t got a clue who has claimed the goal and I’m not bothered.”

For Lee Johnson’s side the fall from grace – it’s now three successive defeats – has occurred

at the wrong time. Any ambitions of automatic promotion which had arrived with a run of seven wins in eight games have disappeared.

Infact these two clubs could be involved in their own version of the quadruple. They meet each other later in the month at the Stadium of Light and if they are paired together in the play-off semi-finals they will meet again. Johnson said: “It’s now three straight losses but we’ve had two decent performances including this one.

“It looks now like it would be extremely difficult to get in the top two now which is very disappointing. It feels like we have thrown that away a little bit.

“Now we have to secure our second chance.”