Last-gasp Emerton secures points

Brett Emerton grabbed a last-gasp winner as Blackburn snatched a 2-1 victory in a compelling Lancashire derby at Blackpool.

The Australian struck four minutes into injury time after Blackpool substitute Matt Phillips thought he had earned a point with an 87th-minute equaliser at Bloomfield Road.

Blackburn had led since the 20th minute of the Barclays Premier League encounter when the otherwise excellent Charlie Adam inexplicably headed into his own net.

It was only Blackburn's second win of the season and brought relief to their manager Sam Allardyce - sacked by Blackpool 14 years ago - after squandering leads in four previous games.

Defeat was harsh on the Seasiders in their first league meeting with their neighbours for 30 years.

Goalkeepers Matthew Gilks and Paul Robinson both had fine individual games in a match characterised by free-flowing attack, and both sides hit the woodwork.

Blackpool's good early work was undone after 20 minutes as Adam had a complete aberration. The Scotland international was under no pressure as a Blackburn attack began to fizzle out. Nikola Kalinic's flick-on posed no danger as it fell to Adam six yards out but his attempt to cushion a header back to Gilks wrong-footed the goalkeeper.

Adam went close late on with a back-post header that drifted across the face of goal and they turned up the heat with Gary Taylor-Fletcher forcing a brilliant save from Robinson.

Pressure finally paid off as Holloway brought on Phillips, who had barely been on the field a minute when he jinked his way into the box before finding the bottom corner.

Blackpool thought they had a point but Blackburn had other ideas and snatched victory when Benjani Mwaruwari`s shot, from a seemingly offside position, was blocked and Emerton stabbed home.