DESPITE being on the defensive for most of the first half, Blackpool played well enough to deserve the three points from their away trip to Oldham on Saturday (Feb 7).

The match looked difficult on paper, with Oldham unbeaten at home this season and the Tangerine's not having won away for four months.

John Hills was outstanding for the Seasiders, terrifying the Oldham defence with his jinking runs down the left wing.

Thankfully, the ridiculous sending off of Butler - mainly due to Oldham fans chanting "off" to the referee - has now been recanted by referee Tony Leake after studying the video footage.

On 70 minutes Stuart Barlow callously hacked at the back of Butler's legs and a melee broke out.

The referee saw none of it, but decided to back the Oldham fans' calls and a flag from the linesman on the opposite side of the pitch.

Fortunately, Oldham failed to make use of their one-man advantage due to poor finishing.

And referee Leake's red card was out again on 90 minutes which saw the dismissal of Oldham's Jepson for what seemed to be a yellow card offence.

Despite all of the controversy over the refereeing, nothing can be taken away from the Seasiders' determination throughout this game.

In the nicest possible way Junior Bent can be likened a bus ... you wait all season for the pint-sized winger to score, then two goals come along in two consecutive matches!

Thanks to a superb cross from Hills, Junior was able to side-foot the ball over the line with the greatest of ease on 56 minutes.

Blackpool signed John Hills from Everton on Wednesday (Feb 11).

The sandgrown'un 19-year-old is delighted to be back at the club he started with as a youth trainee.

John said: "It was a difficult decision to leave Blackpool to join Everton, but I am delighted to return to play for my home town."

Blackpool play host to visitors Millwall this Saturday (Feb 14) at Bloomfield Road.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.