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Blackpool 1 Watford 1

Blackpool secured their Championship status with the point they needed against Watford.

Ben Burgess got the goal for Blackpool while Tommy Smith scored for the visitors, who ended the game with ten men but still bagged a play-off spot.

It was a complicated last day, full of twists and turns, but in the end Blackpool would have been safe even without a point.

Leicester will be the 'team to beat' in League One next season - they went down after a goalless draw away at Stoke, who go up.

Yet goings-on elsewhere were far from the minds of Blackpool supporters after three minutes, when Wes Hoolahan's corner caused panic for the usually solid Watford defence. The clearance was scuffed into the path of Ben Burgess, who finished with ease.

After last week at Plymouth, Blackpool had shown that they would be up for this one. Even new boy Joe Martin, making his debut in place of the absent Taylor Fletcher, got stuck in and put in a brilliant performance.

Fifteen minutes later though and the scores would have been level but for some heroic goalkeeping from Rachubka, who denied Henderson and then Smith in quick succession with a top-class double save.

The first half saw little much else in the way of chances, and at half time the away side clearly took an ear-bashing because they came out flying in the second half.

When Henderson was sent off for a harsh second yellow after fouling Kaspars Gorkss, that should have been it. But, like the sending off for Sheffield Wednesday, it served instead to galvanise the visitors.

Five minutes later they were on level terms. Tommy Smith went on a run and sneaked a shot into the bottom left corner which Rachubka couldn't quite stretch for.

It was as if Watford had suddenly realised what was at stake as Blackpool succumbed to a lengthy spell of pressure for the first time in the game.

Stephen McPhee nearly provided the perfect response with a dizzying little run and a shot which nearly sneaked in at the near post. Instead it hit the upright agonisingly and bounced away.

Although the result turned out to be academic for the Seasiders, McPhee's miss turned out to be absolutely huge for Watford.

By the time 4pm rolled around, Wolves had only managed to beat Plymouth 1-0, leaving Watford to finish in that last play-off spot on the virtue of goal difference, with only ONE GOAL separating the two.

This all resulted in a mini-carnival atmosphere at the final whistle, with both teams coming out to applause from both sets of supporters, with many of the travelling Watford contingent staying to applaud Grayson and his men until the very end.

Even former Blackpool man Danny Shittu joined in, grabbing a Tangerine scarf that was thrown his way and holding it aloft.

It is an absolutely astounding achievement by Blackpool to stay in this division, especially when you look at the calibre of the teams that finished around them.

Next season will be difficult but if Grayson adds to the squad with the same inspired additions that he has sniffed out throughout this campaign, then there's no reason why Blackpool cannot improve on this year's finish.

That final placing, by the way, was 19th, on 54 points. Not bad for a first try.

2:19pm Monday 5th May 2008

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