A SLOPPY performance against Hendon on Saturday (Nov 20) was all it took for the Seasiders to get a dream tie against Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup after a 2-0 victory.

Manager Nigel Worthington described the tawdry cup tie against Hendon as 'non-league vs non-league' after the Seasiders failed to keep up their good run of form.

And the home side were lucky to win 2-0 after some fine play from the Hendon midfield.

The first chance of the match fell Blackpool's way on nine minutes when Phil Clarkson found himself bearing down on goal - only for his six-yard shot to balloon over the bar.

But the rest of the first half was weak stuff from the Tangerines.

Efforts from John Murphy, David Lee and John Durnin were weak and posed no real threat to Gary McCann.

The Hendon stopper only had one real test when he collected a tricky lob from Durnin on the stroke of half time.

The Tangerines were unconvincing and the excellent visiting defence seemed more than able to cope with anything the lacklustre Seasiders could throw at them.

And their attack looked solid enough at the start of the second half when Bulgarian international Bontcho Guentchev made a mockery of Blackpool's back line. On 50 minutes, the woodwork was the only thing that prevented his 25-yard screamer from sinking the Tangerines; and on 63 minutes, a classy overhead from the Bulgarian was touched over the bar by a suddenly-busy Tony Caig.

It was a further six minutes before the 2,975-'strong' crowd - Blackpool's lowest since the First World War - saw the scoring opened against the run of play.

John Durnin redirected a lazy ball from Richard Forsyth for Clarkson to stab home from close range.

The goal helped Blackpool raise their game and from that moment on, they ran away with the match. John Hills stormed down the left wing and supplied Durnin with a long ball which he slotted past McCann.

Hendon played some good football and ended their FA Cup campaign by no means in disgrace.

Let's just hope the Seasiders can raise their game when they travel as underdogs to Highbury for the next round.

Non-League opposition also proved tricky for Preston North End in the second round. Enfield managed to hold a weakened side to a 0-0 draw.

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