LOAN hero Greg Strong capped an excellent debut for the Seasiders when his 15-yard strike secured the points in Pool's 1-0 victory against York at Bloomfield Road on Saturday (November 22).

Strong, on loan from Premiership Bolton, hardly put a foot wrong in the centre of defence and then latched on to a loose ball in the City area and fired home the 68th minute winner.

The Seasiders recovered from a shaky first half during which the visitors, who were reduced to a 14-man squad, created most of the chances.

Twenty-year-old Alan Pouton created havoc among the Blackpool defence, delivering a number of dangerous crosses which the City strikers could not turn into goals.

City's best chance to go ahead came five minutes before the break when Rodney Rowe found himself through on goal with just Steve Banks to beat.

But York's top scorer this season caught his own heel at the crucial moment and Banks was able to collect the ball to keep the game scoreless at half-time.

After the break it was Blackpool who began to apply the pressure - Brett Ormerod replaced Andy Preece and injected some pace into the attack.

Tony Ellis headed onto the crossbar on the hour mark and then had a shot cleared off the line by Martin Reed, moments before Strong broke the deadlock.

On 77 minutes Tony Butler's header struck the crossbar from Lee Philpott's corner and Ellis had a chance to sew the game up in injury time but headed straight at Mark Samways from Junior Bent's cross.

Blackpool travel to Walsall on Saturday (November 29) hoping to stretch their unbeaten run to six games.

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