Seasiders handed first-leg advantage

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

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.

Birmingham striker Marlon King tried his luck with an overhead kick on 13 minutes before Nathan Redmond thrashed just beyond the bar after Chris Burke found some space down the Blackpool left.