Championship Play-off Semi-Final Result 8th May

Blackpool 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Forest again failed to win away but Blackpool have only a small advantage to take into the second leg. As the wonderful Ian Holloway put it, it’s only half-time.
Blackpool’s David Vaughan was The Guardian’s Man of the Match. David was also praised by Times Online and applauded by his manager for chasing an opponent the full length of the pitch to get the ball back (he succeeded).
Rob Edwards was on Blackpool’s bench. Neal Eardley was missing from the squad, perhaps due to a recurrence of his hamstring injury. Daniel Nardiello, who has had his own hamstring problems, was also missing despite scoring for the reserves.
Chris Gunter was back in the starting line-up for Nottingham Forest but Robert Earnshaw was on the bench. He didn’t score (although he did come very close) but he didn’t have a lot of time, only coming on in the 78th minute. Both players picked up yellow cards – Chris certainly has quite a few so I hope that won’t be a problem for the second leg and the final.