Seasiders edge ahead

Curtis Davies' unfortunate own goal gave Blackpool a slender 1-0 advantage over Birmingham in the first leg of their npower Championship play-off semi-final.

The hosts broke the deadlock 44 minutes into an evenly-matched first half when Tom Ince's speculative low drive took a significant deflection off Blues captain Davies.

Nathan Redmond and Marlon King might have put Birmingham ahead before that, but Chris Hughton's side were forced onto the back foot in the second half, with former Liverpool youngster Ince to the fore.

Stephen Dobbie should have doubled the advantage following a sublime piece of skill from the 20-year-old winger before the Bloomfield Road faithful had hearts in mouths when King clipped the outside of the post in stoppage time.

Birmingham head into Wednesday's second leg at St Andrew's - their 62nd game of a season punctuated by runs in the Europa League and FA Cup - needing to bounce back from a first defeat in 10 outings, while Blackpool are now unbeaten in eight.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher prodded home from an offside position for the hosts, while Davies headed off target at the other end in a frenetic opening.

King might have done better when his shot from Chris Burke's cutback clipped the top of the bar at the end of a clinical 40th-minute counter attack.

It was a miss he lived to regret a minute before the interval when Ince's 25-yard effort deflected off Davies and squirmed home past a wrong-footed Doyle.

Holloway introduced Nouha Dicko and and Kevin Phillips in a straight swap for forwards Dobbie and Taylor-Fletcher and the latter thought he had made an instant impact against his former club, only to be flagged offside after heading home a right-wing cross from namesake Matt.

King was agonisingly close to levelling the tie in the first minute of stoppage time, stretching to steer Wade Elliott's knockdown against the woodwork.

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