Daisy rock Blackpool as they pick up first win of the year

First-half goals from Dec Baldwin, Liam Sheppard and Max Bardsley-Rowe put Daisy in the driving seat at the break.

And although Dominic Ritchie pulled a goal back for the visitors early in the second half, Fionn Murphy restored Daisy’s three-goal advantage 18 minutes from time.

It was a fine all-round display from a new-look Daisy side, and a delighted manager Nicky Hunt praised their performance after the game.

“I just thought from start to finish, we were awesome,” said Hunt.

“We were front-footed, and we were everything I wanted us to be.

“From start to finish, we battered them and we got them to the point where they ended up fouling players, picking up yellow cards and we were frustrating them.

“To a man, I couldn’t name a man of the match for us, I really couldn’t, because I just thought we were awesome all over the pitch.

“AFC Blackpool are not a bad team, but we made them look bang average today and that’s what we need to start doing if we want to get to do anything out of this season.

“They’re a tough team, they’re up there above us in the league for a reason, and have got the points on the board, but we’re on their tails now.

“They started the second half really well, got the goal and put a lot of pressure on us.

“In previous games, we’ve melted under pressure and let teams back into the games.

“But today we knuckled down. I thought the midfielders were excellent, they picked up loads of second balls on the front foot and that’s what you need in this league.

“We’ve got so much quality in attacking areas and we just need to tidy up on our defensive side, which we did a little bit more today, with just conceding the one goal when we lost three on Saturday. Clean sheets win you games and we’ve got to get back to that as soon as possible.

“But overall it’s massively pleasing. The past few weeks have been really tough, not just for me, for the players as well, because in some of the games, we’ve got what we deserved, which is a loss, or in some of the games, we’ve got a draw and we should have got the victory.

“I’ve just said to the lads these last 10 games will define our season. You either win the next few games or our season will just peter out, and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The game got off to a lively start with both sides creating chances in the opening minutes.

A quick break down the left set up AFC Blackpool’s Jack Banks with a chance but he scuffed his shot wide from a good position, and at the other end the pace of Sheppard took him into the box only for his effort to be deflected for a corner.

After Harry Forshaw tested AFC Blackpool keeper James Faiers with a shot from 20 yards, Daisy thought they had opened the scoring on 23 minutes when Kris Holt headed Baldwin’s free-kick past Faiers, only for the goal to be ruled out by the flag of the assistant referee.

However, the disappointment sparked Daisy into action, and after a Baldwin free-kick was saved by the keeper and a Sheppard shot was cleared off the line, the deadlock was finally broken just after the half-hour mark.

Baldwin’s left-wing corner was curled in low, and the ball crept in at the near post, despite a desperate attempt by the goalkeeper and covering defender to clear.

Three minutes later, Sheppard doubled Daisy’s lead with his 17th goal of the season, when he raced down the left, cut inside and curled a delightfully-placed shot round a covering defender into the far corner.

An excellent opening 45 minutes for Daisy was rounded off in stoppage time when Bardsley-Rowe added a third goal, his first for the club, when he seized on a clearance from a Baldwin corner to drill a low shot past Faiers from 20 yards.

AFC Blackpool emerged for the second half in determined mood, and within a minute Daisy keeper Jude Smith was forced into making a double save from Stirling and then Ritchie before the ball was cleared.

But five minutes in, the visitors did reduce the arrears when a long ball forward caught out the Daisy defence and Ritchie advanced in on goal before beating Smith with a cool finish.

The game entered a period of flowing from end to end, although neither keeper was seriously tested, but the introduction of Murphy as a substitute just on the hour mark paid dividends when he restored Daisy’s three-goal lead with 18 minutes remaining.

A ball into the box was only half-cleared by the Blackpool defence, and Murphy picked up the loose ball and shot through a ruck of players into the far corner.

AFC Blackpool’s misery was completed 10 minutes from time, when midfielder Scott Stirling was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Daisy substitute Cameron Firth.

Daisy saw the game out safely to collect the three points, and a quirk of fixture scheduling sees them return to the Fylde coast on Saturday to play AFC Blackpool in the return league fixture.