BLACKPOOL 3 CITY 2

DAVID Hopkin forged a reputation in Scotland as a miracle worker for what he did with Livingston.

Now those skills will be put to the test on a much grander stage south of the border.

“Comfortable” was a word that kept cropping up in his answers during Thursday’s official unveiling of City’s latest head coach.

By that point he knew his new resources were already minus Hope Akpan, who landed heavily on his shoulder in Hopkin’s first training session, and Adam Chicksen, wounded by a painful challenge in Michael Collins’ Fleetwood swansong.

But the Scot confidently spoke of an ability to turn things round quickly.

That will be the immediate challenge with a club who suffered their fifth league loss out of seven after collapsing like a long-distance runner suddenly hitting the wall on the final straight.

A 2-0 win at Blackpool would still have been far from perfect. The hosts were right to feel miffed at the injustice of that scoreline after carrying the greater threat for all bar one real spell.

But to collapse as City did, conceding three times from the 84th minute, highlighted the fragility of the morale right now.

As soon as things started to go awry, the brittleness of the team’s character from the difficult start to the season was exposed for all to see.

At least there is no hiding the task that Hopkin faces in the coming weeks.

The two sides to City’s afternoon were summed up with Richard O’Donnell’s performance.

For so long, the keeper was the outstanding figure for the man in black.

He pulled off crucial saves from Jordan Thompson and Donervon Daniels to spearhead the determination to keep Blackpool at bay.

But when it came to the crunch, he emerged as the unfortunate villain of the piece after giving away the first tide-turning penalty and then making a mess of Thompson’s late cross to offer up Blackpool’s winner on a plate for Curtis Tilt.

The fact that it was the defender’s first goal for 11 months – after Jay Spearing had opened Blackpool’s account with his first appearance on the scoresheet in a year and a half – probably sums up City’s luck right now.

But that won’t have fooled Hopkin. Three errors cost them the points, as he stressed afterwards.

The middle mistake had come from Ryan McGowan’s clumsy check on Tilt – a soft penalty award in the eyes of his boss but probably the correct call on further viewing.

Hopkin highlighted the difference in experience of the two benches as a key factor in Blackpool growing stronger as the game wore on.

But those costly blunders came from senior campaigners not rookie teenagers.

That is probably down to the lack of self-belief from the dispiriting opening weeks of the campaign. A fault that Hopkin will back himself to rectify.

Bringing the younger lads up to speed is another must with options looking increasingly stretched. Skipper Josh Wright was forced off in the second half to potentially add to the problems.

At the point that Wright had felt unable to continue, it appeared that the hard work had been done.

The magnificent 1,800-strong away support was still bouncing merrily in the light of Jack Payne quickly adding to Eoin Doyle’s deadlock-breaking spot-kick.

Blackpool, having posed all the attacking questions up to that point, were looking woozy from the swift one-two of sucker punches.

That two-goal advantage had come completely out of the blue. Doyle’s penalty was their first shot on target.

A dour first half had focused on defensive duties to prevent Blackpool sensing any repeat of the five-goal low that City suffered in Simon Grayson’s watch in their last visit.

Nathaniel Knight-Percival was the only survivor from that terrible April day, watching the carnage from the subs’ bench, and he had been recalled as a third centre half for the format that Hopkin favoured at Livi.

Youngster Connor Wood worked manfully at left wing-back in Chicksen’s absence, Knight-Percival cajoling him through matters.

O’Donnell dealt with the biggest scare, a deflected drive from Thompson, as City got to the interval unscathed. Comfortable, no doubt, in Hopkin’s view.

And he looked on course for a dug-out debut win when Doyle fired his second penalty in successive games.

Kelvin Mellor struggled again on City’s right but he did push forward to start and finish the move that earned it, having his ankles clipped by Curtis Tilt.

With the cloud seemingly lifted, the visitors struck once again. Doyle headed on to David Ball and, just two minutes into his first game on loan, the sub had an assist with Payne finishing neatly into the bottom corner.

But the game exploded into life in the final 10 minutes.

Blackpool, getting more direct since the arrival of Armand Gnanduillet, launched a flurry of pressure. But Anthony O’Connor pulled off another goal-line rescue that the watching Stephen Darby would have approved of and O’Donnell’s reflexes spectacularly foiled the follow-up.

Ball then threatened to put the game beyond doubt with a thumping strike that Howard blocked and Blackpool scrambled clear.

And from that point the roof caved in for City.

A route one rocket from the keeper bounced right through to Gnanduillet who was flattened by O’Donnell’s flailing forearm.

Spearing tucked away his first goal in 581 days, as the Blackpool captain later counted, and the cracks were appearing.

Centre half Tilt was now playing centre forward and was caught by McGowan chasing another flick-on.

Simon Hooper, the referee from City’s play-off final, again pointed to the spot despite the protests.

O’Donnell this time guessed right to parry Spearing’s penalty but the midfielder tapped home the rebound.

City were penned in their own half, drained and demoralised. As Blackpool’s sparse fanbase made themselves heard for the first time, it was inevitable what would follow.

Thompson whipped a ball in from the left touchline, it kicked up in front of O’Donnell, and the ball slithered agonisingly from his grasp.

Tilt, whose decision to stay up top had been his own rather than instruction from the side, could not believe his luck as he tucked away Blackpool’s winner.

Over to you, David Hopkin.