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Plymouth 3 Blackpool 0

If it does go down to the last day of the season, Blackpool will have to do better than this spineless performance to ensure Championship survival.

If Southampton record a Monday night victory over West Brom, Blackpool will have to fight it out next Sunday with the rest of the stragglers.

This visit to the south coast was a perfect opportunity to get safe but the Seasiders blew it with one of their worst games of the campaign.

It all started when Jermaine Easter outpaced the returning Michael Jackson in the fourth minute and lobbed the ball over a helpless Rachubka.

It certainly seemed a strange move by Grayson - to fiddle with a back line that only last week recorded its first win in two months. Jackson lined up alongside Evatt and Barker while Gorkss was shoved to left back to make up for the absence of Crainey.

Danny Coid, sitting on the bench must have felt particularly aggreived not to have figured in the starting line up.

Perhaps it was just one of those days where an early goal completely knocked the stuffing out of the team, because on 25 minutes it got worse.

A free header for Fallon made it 2-0 and all of a sudden, the words 'relegation form' were back on the mind. For this goal had come after a spell of constant Plymouth pressure which saw the ball narrowly miss the Blackpool goal twice and Jackson get booked for a foul on his tormentor Easter.

It would be harsh to point the finger at Jackson. Not only has he not played enough recently to be at his best, but the performance from Easter meant that a central pairing of Gorkss and Evatt would have struggled to contain him.

A booking for Hoolahan rounded off a gutless excuse for a first half display and the second half wasn't much better.

There was a penalty shout when Fallon appeared to bring down Evatt rather clumsily, but by the time it went to 3-0 no-one really cared.

It was the invisible man Rory Fallon again, completely unchallenged once more as he headed home.

By this point Grayson, with a face like thunder on the touchline, looked like he was ready to tear off his lucky tracksuit and play himself.

Anything other than a win for Plymouth would have been harsh as they played superbly but where was the fight from a Blackpool side who simply needed a point to guarantee safety?

And it wasn't the send-off Paul Dickov deserved in his likely final appearance.

If West Brom beat Southampton as they should (it would secure them promotion) then Blackpool are all but safe.

If Southampton get something it all comes down to next weekend.

Either way though, we can be sure that Simon Grayson will not tolerate another performance like this. He will not want to throw away an incredible season. He will send his team out at Bloomfield Road next Saturday to stay up.

11:12pm Sunday 27th April 2008

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