Peter Odemwingie, the villain of the piece when West Bromwich lost their previous home match, returned to the affections of the Hawthorns faithful when his second goal of an open game ended Blackpool's hopes of adding to their impressive away record.
The Nigerian international had scuffed the ball wide from the penalty spot against Manchester United, who went on to contribute to Albion's run of six consecutive defeats. But redemption came in the form of another less than cleanly struck shot and with it a measure of revenge.
When the promoted duo met at Bloomfield Road in November West Bromwich had two men sent off – one of them, Pablo Ibanez, suffering a dubious refereeing decision – in a2-1 defeat. The result started a morale-sapping run during which Albion picked up seven points from 11 games. However, they demonstrated their resilience by shrugging off an early Blackpool goal from David Vaughan to lead through James Morrison and Odemwingie, and again after Gary Taylor-Fletcher equalised with 10 minutes left.
"It was an exciting and thrilling game for the supporters," Di Matteo said. "Less so for the two managers." Hailing a "fantastic team effort" the Italian singled out Odemwingie for praise, saying: "Strikers live off goals and the confidence that comes from them."
Ian Holloway felt Blackpool "deserved more than we got, which was zip," adding: "We absolutely enjoyed everything we tried to do, but the quality of the opposition sometimes gets in the way." Di Matteo had dropped his captain, Scott Carson, but his replacement, the former Hull keeper Boaz Myhill, was soon beaten. A short-corner ploy between Charlie Adam and Stephen Crainey led to the latter's curling cross being only half-cleared by Morrison. Vaughan had time to switch the ball on to his left foot before lifting the ball over Myhill from 20 yards.
Odemwingie, without a goal in five games, broke the spell late in the first half. Graham Dorrans delivered a chipped cross which found the forward timing his run perfectly to beat Blackpool's offside trap before dispatching it past Richard Kingson. Blackpool should have regained the lead after Adam's pass left DJ Campbell with only Myhill to beat, but the match-winner against Liverpool shot inches wide.
It proved a costly miss. Within two minutes, Jerome Thomas flashed past Neal Eardley and sent in a low cross. Kingson got a hand on the ball but only directed it to Morrison, who put Albion ahead.
Blackpool threw men forward and were rewarded when Vaughan's slide-rule pass picked out the substitute Matt Phillips. His ball across the six-yard area was steered home by Taylor-Fletcher. But three minutes from time, Craig Cathcart inexplicably failed to attack Gonzalo Jara's long ball as it dropped, allowing Odemwingie to show that he could be clinical from 12 yards.
Attendance: 25,316
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Man of the match: Odemwingie
Match rating: 8/10
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