BLACKPOOL defeated visitors Wrexham 2-1 with two identical well-rehearsed set pieces at Bloomfield Road on Saturday (Aug 14).

Brett Ormerod started the season with a smile as he twice headed past Kevin Dearden, Wrexham's new goalkeeper signed from Watford.

But Ian Stevens, also making his debut for Wrexham, let the Seasiders know what the visitors were capable of in the first minute, with a strong header straight at Phil Barnes.

On eight minutes the 5,008-strong crowd were treated to Blackpool's first goal of the season.

Andy Couzens supplied the corner, Brett Ormerod the pace to reach the ball and the rest is history.

New striker John Murphy was marked by two of the Robins defenders for both of Blackpool's goals, giving Ormerod the time and space to head home.

That makes Murphy a good signing for the Seasiders for a start - and what makes him even better is the way that he worked with his new team-mates to make space for himself, provide well-timed lay-offs and tackle when necessary.

The majority of the action in the opening 45 minutes was in Blackpool's half, with dangerous runs from Wayne Phillips and Ian Stevens.

But the Tangerine defence, shepherded by Bardsley, coped well with the prolonged periods of attack.

When the visitors did manage to break through, Phil Barnes demonstrated exactly why he was selected in front of Tony Caig.

Marvin Bryan, still signing week-to-week contracts, rescued Pool from what looked like a certain equaliser on 33 minutes when Brian Carey powered a header down past Barnes.

On 37 minutes, against the run of play, Blackpool made the match their own with a carbon copy of the first goal.

Couzens again supplied the corner, all Wrexham eyes were again on Murphy and Ormerod embarrassed them with a perfect header into the top right corner of the net. The second half was a more even-sided affair with Ormerod going close to his hat-trick on 65 minutes with a cheeky lob which went a foot wide to the right.

Just two minutes earlier Murphy had given him the perfect opportunity to score when he layed the ball off in the box, only for Ormerod to slip as he lined up the shot.

Wrexham worked back into the game following the arrival of Michael Ryan and Craig Faulconbridge, the former providing superb crosses and the latter a constant threat in front of goal.

And it was Faulconbridge who scored the consolation for Wrexham, leaving Blackpool fans with crossed fingers and toes in the closing stages.

An encouraging start for the Tangerines, despite the dominance of Wrexham at times.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.