Blackpool 2 Norwich City 0

Last updated : 07 March 2009 By Footymad Previewer
A Brett Ormerod wonder strike proved to be the platform for Blackpool's first home win since late January.

His thunderous angled strike - his first since his return to the Seaside - galvanized his team-mates and the crowd alike as they won this entertaining relegation six-pointer.

Blackpool, eager to avoid a fifth straight home defeat against fellow strugglers Norwich, took the game to their opponents in the early stages.

A series of attacks came to nothing before a David Vaughan goalbound effort was deflected wide.

The Canaries rallied and in the space of three minutes, Lee Croft and Wes Hoolahan both had shots blocked.

Then from the corner, Jason Shackell's header was cleared off the line.

For the remainder of the half the game ebbed and flowed with both sides spurning good chances to grab the lead.

For City, Croft tried his luck on 30 yards but shot narrowly wide, as did Dudley Campbell for the home side.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher somehow shot over from underneath the crossbar before both keepers performed heroics to keep the scoreline blank.

Stephen Crainey's free-kick from the edge of the box was brilliantly saved by David Marshall in the Norwich goal as was Jonathan Grounds' eight-yard snapshot by the Seasiders' Paul Rachubka moments later.

A quiet opening to the second half was interrupted in spectacular fashion by Ormerod on 55 minutes.

Played in by Taylor-Fletcher, he appeared to run out of options as he was forced towards the byline, but from nowhere he unleashed a 20-yard thunderbolt past a static keeper to ripple the roof of the net.

Norwich offered nothing in the second half, failing to register a single shot on goal and when loanee Charlie Adam curled the ball over the stranded Marshall after 75 minutes, the points were all but secured for Tony Parkes' men who, in truth, could have at least doubled their tally.