Blackpool seal a sensational victory to top the Premier League

Wigan 0 Blackpool 4

Blackpool towered over the Premier League after a sensational return to top flight life as they destroyed hapless Wigan.

The team Ian Holloway has constructed on half a shoe-string proved to be too well organised, too determined and frankly, too good for a Wigan outfit bereft of any quality remotely acceptable at this level of the game.

In their first appearance at the highest level since 1971, Blackpool struck three times before the break to effectively wrap up the points in quite staggering fashion.

New-boy Marlon Harewood scored twice after Gary Taylor-Fletcher had put the visitors in front. Alex Baptiste profited from more wretched goalkeeping by Chris Kirkland to ensure Tangerines and draw ironic chants of “Bring on the Arsenal” from the visiting supporters, who head for the Emirates next week.

If Blackpool had taken any notice of the words that were said and written about them this week, they would not even have bothered to make the short journey south from their seaside base.

The Premier League has a relatively short history but since the competition was formed in 1992, no side has been written off quite so mercilessly.

Nothing can be read into a single performance. Last season’s results include a Burnley triumph over Manchester United from August 2009.

But days like this will never be forgotten. It might not be in the class of the 1953 “Matthews” final. But those who were there will never forget the massacre at the DW Stadium.

Blackpool’s performance was made all the more remarkable by the knowledge Harewood, along with Elliot Grandin and the sturdy Craig Cathcart, were not even at Bloomfield Road at the start of the week.