Hayden CoulsonImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Hayden Coulson scored the winner for Blackpool five minutes after Jake Beesley's leveller

Managerless Blackpool stunned Championship Blackburn Rovers with a rapid second-half turnaround at Ewood Park to progress to the Carabao Cup third round.

The League One side trailed their Lancashire rivals midway through the first half thanks to Makhtar Gueye's penalty.

But two goals in five second-half minutes from Jake Beesley and substitute Hayden Coulson helped Blackpool to their first win at Blackburn since 1977.

It is their first win under interim head coach Richard Keogh, and also ends Blackburn’s unbeaten start to the season.

Blackpool sacked Neil Critchley after they began their 2024-25 League One campaign with back-to-back defeats and they then let slip a 4-1 lead to draw with Cambridge United on Saturday.

It looked like more disappointment was on the cards when Gueye put Blackburn in front from the spot after Arnor Sigurdsson was felled in the box.

But Blackpool grew into the game with Rob Apter and Elliot Embleton both firing wide, and Oliver Norburn hitting the crossbar in the second half.

Not long after Blackburn made five substitutions at once, it was the visitors who found an equaliser.

Apter’s cut-back was tapped in by Beesley on 72 minutes for his first goal of the season.

And five minutes later the turnaround was complete when Coulson robbed Joe Rankin-Costello of possession before slotting in at the near post.

Blackpool withstood some late Blackburn pressure to seal a place in round three for the first time since 2018.

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