Friday, March 04, 2011

Bruna On Target In Reds Defeat

Gerardo Bruna was on target as Liverpool Reserves went down to a 2-1 defeat at Blackpool on Thursday afternoon.

The diminutive attacker showed great awareness to level matters just shy of the hour mark after a Malaury Martin penalty had given the Seasiders a deserved first-half lead.

However, the Argentine then saw a tame spot-kick easily saved by Mark Halstead before the Tangerines' Belarusian striker Sergey Kornilenko snared all three points with a well-executed strike four minutes from time.

The result means John McMahon's side's 10 match unbeaten run has come to an end and they will now have to lift themselves again in time for next week's clash with West Brom.

The fervent support that has been a feature of Blackpool's impressive return to topflight football was conspicuous by its absence as the second-string encounter got underway at Bloomfield Road but the silence from the stands failed to affect the home team who made a supercharged start to the proceedings.

The lively Martin crashed a free-kick in a dangerous position into the Liverpool wall inside 60 seconds before Luke Varney saw a close range finish correctly chalked off for offside.

The inclusion of the frontman who struck Blackpool's famous winner at Anfield earlier in the season was a clear sign of the hosts' intent and after Tom Ince dragged wide from distance they took the lead on 26 minutes.

Conor Thomas was harshly adjudged to have pushed Kornilenko inside the six yard box leaving Martin to step up and coolly send Martin Hansen the wrong way from the penalty spot.

The Reds had offered very little as an attacking force at this point and the Seasiders should have doubled their lead just three minutes later but Kornilenko misfired when it seemed easier to score.

The home side continued to dictate the tempo of the game and Martin and Kornilenko both squandered presentable chances as the half came to a close.

Liverpool almost snatched an equalizer in the 45th minute but Nikola Saric mistimed his square pass after his clever run had sprung the offside trap.

McMahon would have demanded more from his charges in the second 45 but Blackpool maintained their dominance following the interval and Hansen showed good agility to tip over Matt Phillips' rasping shot.

Again, there had been very little sign of the visitors in the attacking third but they kept battling away and on 57 minutes they drew level.

Bruna capitalized upon a defensive mistake by Sala Sbai before showing good composure to round Mark Halstead and tap the ball into an empty net.

It seemed to spark renewed belief within the Liverpool ranks and Steven Irwin brought the best out of the Tangerines stopper with thunderous drive from distance.

At the other end, Kornilenko wasted another gilt-edged chance while Bruna should have doubled his tally when he crashed over the bar following superb build up play by Ince.

The Argentine was getting himself into some dangerous positions but once again the finish was lacking as he was brilliantly denied by Halstead at the far post.

With time running out both sides pushed for the winner and on 79 minutes Liverpool were gifted the opportunity to snatch the points.

Saric was brought crashing to the ground by Chris Basham but from the resulting penalty, Bruna saw his effort easily saved Halstead.

It proved to be a very costly miss too as Kornilenko raced onto a long ball, cut inside Emmanuel Mendy and fired past Hansen four minutes from time.

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