Burnley and Blackpool play out an enthralling Lancashire derby draw

Blackpool come from two goals behind to leave a bitter taste at Turf Moor after an entertaining 3-3 draw in Burnley ended with 20 players on the pitch.

In a match that was once again dominated by Burnley in possession, Blackpool will have come away the happier of the two sides. Goals from Nathan Tella (2) and Josh Brownhill for the Clarets were not enough as Theo Corbeanu, Shayne Lavery and Jerry Yates hit back for the Tangerines.

The Clarets did manage to turn their possession in to goals this time out, but their defence crumbled as they failed to see out a two goal lead, leaving them four games without a win.

The game itself was a great advocate for Lancashire derbies in football terms. A total of six goals, some scrappy, some magnificent and two red cards after a scuffle late on. Some all-round great football was played.

Burnley started very quickly, getting hold of the ball and playing their style of football well. It only took three minutes to score their first. Jay Rodriquez broke the Blackpool defence to latch onto Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ long ball, but he couldn’t quite get it under his spell. Luckily for him an in-form Brownhill was there to hit a perfectly struck shot into the top right corner from 20 yards out.

The Clarets mood was given a second boost when Tella scored his first for the club and his first of the day in the 11^th minute. With Harwood-Bellis at the heart again, his dinked through ball found Tella’s chest and the Clarets new boy controlled it neatly, before slotting past Dan Grimshaw in the Blackpool goal.

Blackpool weren’t going to be kept out of this tie for long though, they started to press high up the pitch causing Burnley keeper Arijanet Muric all kinds of problems as he was trying to play out from the back.

A loose pass from the keeper was mis-controlled by Josh Cullen under pressure, who then slipped, leaving a rushing Corbeanu one-on-one with Muric, a battle which the Blackpool forward won, slotting home to bring the score line to 2-1 after 21 minutes.

Tella’s second goal came in the 33^rd minute courtesy of another defensive slip. The ball fell to the winger who had all the time in the world to pick out a shot into the top right corner, ending the goal action in an energetic first half.

Blackpool’s football improved early in the second half pressing Burnley and cutting down their space to play out from the back. This would tell as the Tangerines started to create more chances off the back of the Clarets’ mistakes.

Muric was called into action several times, but he couldn’t do anything to stop Lavery from close range when he latched onto a low driven cross from Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel, to make it game on in the 74^th minute. The goal fired up both the fans and the players.

It took just a further two minutes for the Tangerines to get back level. They swung a corner to the far post finding Kenny Dougall, who smashed it back across the goal where it was Yates who got the vital touch to score, sending the Blackpool faithful wild.

10 minutes later tensions flared when Ian Maatsen was taken down by Sonny Carey, the Burnley full back lost his head, pushing Carey to the ground, which sparked a big scuffle between the two teams. Both players received red cards for the incident.

Burnley pushed late on to find a winner but they couldn’t find the extra killer instinct, with the final whistle ending the game at 3-3.

It was another match where the Clarets had over 70% possession but failed to win. They sit 15^th in the table on six points after five games. Blackpool are 11^th with seven points from their five games.

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