In all, a draw was probably just about a fair outcome but Leeds may rue this as two-points that got away particularly given Ipswich's surge into fifth earlier.

Brian McDermott made two changes and it was in with the old and out with the new! Veteran midfielders Michael's Tonge and Brown stepped up to replace suspended Luke Murphy and Alex Mowatt, who needs to make it until January 1st without picking up a 5th yellow to avoid a ban.

I was pleased to see Marius Zaliukas recover from a horrendous challenge in the back end of Saturdays' draw with Barnsley and passed fit to play, the Lithuanian freebie in my mind our unsung hero of the recent good run. I was also pleased to see us in our azure blue away kit rather than that off-gold thing and as usual, our travelling fans were in good voice even if much of it was directed at the Ince family, who have settled in these parts of late.

The cheers got louder from the away end on 25minutes when we witnessed a first of firsts, a Lee Peltier goal, his first for Leeds. I was pleased for Peltier as to me, he gets lots of stick unnecessarily from some of our fans who have not forgiven his shaky performances during the early part of last season, when Neil Warnock played him out of position. Peltier rose majestically to head home Pugh's cross and we certainly did like to be by the seaside.

Blackpool came back at us and in the wake of Peltier's goal forced a couple of corners, but we were defending well and both Ince and Chopra had shots blocked as did McCormack for us thanks to Tonge's assist.

We started the second half well enough, Austin and Pearce both seeing left foot shots trickle out wide, however Blackpool started to boss the game and although chances were few and far between they levelled on 64 minutes with a touch of good fortune. The ball fell to Ince on the edge of the box who's drive ricocheted off Zaliukas's head to divert past Kenny's cover and finally wake the home fans from their festive slumber.

To their credit, the 'Pool fans sung for about two minutes but they're hearts were probably in their mouths as Broadfoot, who had been hacking away for most of the afternoon felled another former Rangers player Ross McCormack. Leeds screamed for a penalty and a red card but referee Scott Mathieson gave a free-kick and a yellow.

Still Broadfoot managed to get himself sent off for a challenge on Zaliukas in the 89th minute but in reality it didnt make that much difference, other than underline Blackpool's utterly appalling disciplinary record,this being their NINTH red of the season so far!

The point lifts us back into fifth, however we remain six points behind fourth place Derby and Ipswich creeping up on the rails shows that our place in the play-off zone is vulnerable to challenges from teams below. On the bright side we remain unbeaten and we have not won at Blackpool for 46 years, although that is probably slightly misleading given the amount of time we avoided having to come to Bloomfield Road given our differing league status.

All eyes are now on Sunday's trip to Forest, lets hope their difficult clash with QPR tonight takes it out on them and we can nick three vital points on the banks of the River Trent!

Photo: Action Images

TimWhelan added 21:04 - Dec 26 A few weeks ago I would have said a draw was a good result in this game, away to another play-off contender. But with Blackpool losing four on the trot before today I was hoping for a win, though a draw was probably a fair result on the night.
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