Nathan Delfouneso and Armand Gnanduillet keep Blackpool in play-off hunt

Posted Sunday, January 27, 2019 by PA

Blackpool reignited their Sky Bet League One play-off ambitions with a 2-0 victory at Coventry.

The Seasiders had struggled to acclimatise to the atrocious pitch conditions in the first half, but Terry McPhillips’ side came out firing on all cylinders after half-time to score twice in five minutes via Nathan Delfouneso and Armand Gnanduillet.

The win left the eighth-placed Tangerines six points off the play-off positions.

Coventry were guilty of not making their dominance count in the opening period, with Conor Chaplin squandering a great chance in the 24th minute as he headed wide from six yards.

Blackpool made their breakthrough just over a minute into the second half when Jordan Thompson’s in-swinging free-kick was headed back across the face of goal by Curtis Tilt and converted by Delfouneso.

The visitors doubled their advantage just five minutes later when Gnanduillet latched onto a long ball before fending off the challenge of Dom Hyam to rifle the ball into the bottom corner.

Coventry searched desperately for a way back into the game but their efforts were thwarted by a resilient Blackpool side, with goalkeeper Christoffer Mafoumbi making it three clean sheets from three appearances since deputising for the injured Mark Howard.