POOL'S impressive run in the league came to an end thanks to a late defeat at the hands of Barnsley - their second loss of the season.

Clearly there were a lot of tired legs in Blackpool colours and on the night they were second best.

Despite an early opener from the Seasiders, the home side wore Blackpool down to take the three points.

Steve McMahon made no changes to the side that convincingly beat Wycombe and his team started the game in the same kind of form that saw them reach third in the table before dropping back to sixth with this result.

Pool went ahead after just 12 minutes as John Murphy clinically finished from close range.

But a forced substitution soon after turned the game upside down and Blackpool never recovered. Tommy Jaszczun limped off for Ian Hughes and also prompted a formation change from Steve McMahon. But many of the Blackpool players seemed unclear of their position and Barnsley took advantage to dominate proceedings.

Just after the half hour Barnsley's dominance paid off as Mike Sheron volleyed to level the scores. The home side continued to put Blackpool under pressure and were unlucky not to go ahead before the break with Sheron and Fallon going close.

The second half started the same way as the first ended with Pool on the receiving end of another Barnsley ambush. A winner from the home side was inevitable but the goal itself was surrounded by controversy.

Martin Bullock seemed to be felled by Keith Curle but the referee waved play on and to the amazement of Bullock eventually awarded the free kick to Barnsley following the winger's protests. From the resulting free kick Rory Fallon grabbed the winner when he converted a Paul Gibbs from a yard out.

Pool had late chances to equalise but the closest they got was a Scott Taylor effort which skied over the bar.

Barnsley 2-1 Blackpool

Sheron 31, Fallon 76

Murphy 12