1990–91 Blackpool F.C. season

The 1990-91 season was Blackpool F.C.'s 83rd season (80th consecutive) in the Football League. They competed in the 24-team Division Four, then the fourth tier of English football. They finished fifth, missing out on automatic promotion by one point after a final-day defeat at Walsall, and made the play-offs; however, they lost in the final, against Torquay United, in a penalty-shootout after the game finished 2-2 after normal and extra time.

Graham Carr was replaced as manager by his assistant, Billy Ayre, on 30 November. Between 10 November and the end of the season, the club went on to record thirteen consecutive League wins at Bloomfield Road.

Dave Bamber was the club's top scorer, with seventeen league goals.

Results

Table

                                     Home              Away
                             P   W  D  L   F   A   W  D  L   F   A Pts
 1. DARLINGTON (P)          46  13  8  2  36  14   9  9  5  32  24  83
 2. STOCKPORT COUNTY (P)    46  16  6  1  54  19   7  7  9  30  28  82
 3. HARTLEPOOL UNITED (P)   46  15  5  3  35  15   9  5  9  32  33  82
 4. PETERBOROUGH UNITED (P) 46  13  9  1  38  15   8  8  7  29  30  80
 5. Blackpool               46  17  3  3  55  17   6  7 10  23  30  79
 6. Burnley                 46  17  5  1  46  16   6  5 12  24  35  79
 7. TORQUAY UNITED (P)      46  14  7  2  37  13   4 11  8  27  34  72
 8. Scunthorpe United       46  17  4  2  51  20   3  7 13  20  42  71
 9. Scarborough             46  13  5  5  36  21   6  7 10  23  35  69
10. Northampton             46  14  5  4  34  21   4  8 11  23  37  67
11. Doncaster Rovers        46  12  5  6  36  22   5  9  9  20  24  65
12. Rochdale                46  10  9  4  29  22   5  8 10  21  31  62
13. Cardiff City            46  10  6  7  26  23   5  9  9  17  31  60
14. Lincoln City            46  10  7  6  32  27   4 10  9  18  34  59
15. Gillingham              46   9  9  5  35  27   3  9 11  22  33  54
16. Walsall                 46   7 12  4  25  17   5  5 13  23  34  53
17. Hereford United         46   9 10  4  32  19   4  4 15  21  39  53
18. Chesterfield            46   8 12  3  33  26   5  2 16  14  36  53
19. Maidstone United        46   9  5  9  42  34   4  7 12  24  37  51
20. Carlisle United         46  12  3  8  30  30   1  6 16  17  59  48
21. York City               46   8  6  9  21  23   3  7 13  24  34  46
22. Halifax Town            46   9  6  8  34  29   3  4 16  25  50  46
23. Aldershot               46   8  7  8  38  43   2  4 17  23  58  41
24. Wrexham                 46   8  7  8  33  34   2  3 18  15  40  40

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Blackpool and Scunthorpe United met in the two-legged semi-finals of the play-offs. The first leg, played at Glanford Park on 19 May, finished 1-1. Three days later, Blackpool won the return leg at Bloomfield Road 2-0, courtesy of a double by David Eyres, and took the tie 3-2 on aggregate. Blackpool's celebration of reaching Wembley since the famous "Matthews Final" thirty-eight years earlier was overshadowed by the news that their former player and manager Stan Mortensen, who scored a hat-trick in that final, had died earlier in the day, at the age of 69.

Final

On 31 May, Blackpool met Torquay United in the final at Wembley. The game finished 2-2 after normal time and extra time. It went to a penalty-shootout, which Torquay won 5-4. Dave Bamber missed the decisive penalty, the second of sudden death, putting it well wide of Gareth Howells' left-hand post.

Player statistics

Appearances

Players used: 24

Goals

Total goals scored: 84 (plus four own-goals)

Notes

References

• Calley, Roy (1992). Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992. Breedon Books Sport. ISBN 1-873626-07-X.