BLACKPOOL fell 4-3 on aggregate to Tranmere in a messy Worthington Cup second leg game at Prenton Park on Tuesday night (Aug 24) - again.

Twice now in successive seasons have Tranmere put paid to any hopes the Seasiders had of a glamorous cup tie against Premiership opposition.

And on both occasions Blackpool took a goal advantage to Tranmere before losing out 4-3 on aggregate.

A defensive error let Scott Taylor in for the home side's first of the match - Clark Carlisle the culprit.

Carlisle allowed the ball to bounce in the box instead of clearing it and the ever sharp Scott Taylor didn't hesitate in racing on to the ball and slamming it home on 26 minutes.

Tranmere's second came at the end of the first half when Barry Shuttleworth crossed the pitch to block out Michael Black.

Jason Koumas crossed the ball to David Kelly - wide open where Shuttleworth should have been covering - to blast the ball past Tony Caig.

The home side's third made a mockery of the Tangerines.

Brett Ormerod's cross was hijacked by keeper John Achterburg and Tranmere were back on the offensive. Michael Black, Tranmere's driving force for the duration of the game, opened up down the middle and his lob to Kelly was perfectly weighted for him to slide it home.

The frustrating thing about this match was that Blackpool waited until this point, on 55 minutes, to start to play.

At 3-0 down the visitors finally stepped up a gear to comprehensively outplay Tranmere.

Adam Nowland's shot from the left looked goalbound but it scraped past the far post, with Junior Bent seconds too late to correct its course.

Andy Couzens crossed the ball with his usual pinpoint accuracy on 64 minutes to Phil Clarkson who slotted the ball past Achterburg with ease.

Even with the departure of Ian Hughes, sent off for bringing down a through-on-goal Scott Taylor, the Seasiders were the better side.

Clarkson had a stab from 25 yards and two minutes later Junior Bent could have taken the match into extra-time.

Again, Ormerod turned provider and crossed for an under-pressure Bent but the ball bounced off him when he should have thrown himself at it.

A definite case of too little, too late from the Seasiders, leaving all their players with a dose of the Mersey blues.

On Saturday (Aug 28) the Seasiders travel to Brentford.

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