BLACKPOOL GAVE themselves renewed hope of avoiding the drop from the Sky Bet Championship thanks to a thumping 6-1 victory against shellshocked QPR.
The Seasiders recorded by far their biggest win of the season to move within just three points of potential safety.
Only a second success in 20 league games was secured in some style against a Rangers side that never recovered from a disastrous start.
Mick McCarthy’s Seasiders made a dream start as they went three up after only 14 minutes.
The opener came following a penalty award after only 44 seconds.
Morgan Rogers’ initial attempt was blocked before Jerry Yates fired in a shot from inside the box. Referee Jeremy Simpson pointed straight to the spot after adjudging that the effort had been blocked by the arm of Rob Dickie.
Yates stepped up and drilled the penalty straight into the top corner.
Andy Lyons made it two when he darted in to meet CJ Hamilton’s superb drag-back before coolly side-footing home.
Bloomfield Road was rocking again when a howler from QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng led to a third goal.
Dieng hopelessly spilt James Husband’s rather harmless cross at the feet of Curtis Nelson, who slotted his first Blackpool goal into an unguarded net from 15 yards.
Rangers were clearly shell-shocked, but they almost reduced the deficit when Husband superbly cleared skipper Chris Martin’s strike off the line.
However, it got even worse nine minutes before the break. Some R’s fans headed for the exits after watching Jordan Thorniley easily head home from Charlie Patino’s corner.
Rangers at least had the final word of an incredible first half when Martin dived in to head home Lyndon Dykes’ cross to make it 4-1.
— Hale End Productions Video (@HEPVideos) March 14, 2023
It was five for Blackpool just three minutes after the restart. After Dieng brilliantly tipped Lyons’ thunderbolt over the crossbar, the Irish wing-back then headed home from Patino’s corner.
It was almost six when Rogers’ shot thumped the inside of a post.
QPR simply had no answer to Blackpool’s dominance, and every time the hosts went forward they looked capable of adding another goal.
Lyons was hungry for his hat-trick, but his effort just past the hour failed to trouble Dieng this time.
As the game began to fizzle out late on, Sam Field headed inches wide for the visitors, before substitute Kenny Dougall’s crisp finish made it a superb six for Blackpool in the 88th minute.
Elsewhere, Preston kept their slim Sky Bet Championship play-off hopes alive with a 2-1 win at Rotherham, who are still looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone.
First-half goals from Tom Cannon and Ched Evans saw North End stretch their unbeaten run to seven games and move to five points off the top six.
With nine games to go and plenty of teams above them with an extra game to play it looks an outside bet that they qualify, but they still have something to play for.
The Millers, who equalised through Hakeem Odoffin, saw their cushion above the drop zone cut to five points after Blackpool beat QPR 6-1 and Saturday’s clash with Cardiff now looks to have taken on extra significance.
Things might have been different had Rotherham’s strong start, with Chiedozie Ogbene causing trouble down the right, been rewarded with a goal.
But they could not muster anything meaningful on the Preston goal and it was the visitors who took the lead against the run of play midway through the first half.
After Tarique Fosu miscontrolled in his own half, Alan Browne sent a curling cross to the far post where Robbie Brady headed back across goal for Cannon to poke home from close range.
Rotherham’s response was good and they should have been level three minutes later but an unmarked Jordan Hugill, playing against his former club, put a free header from Wes Harding’s cross well over.
The hosts continued to push and a deserved equaliser came 10 minutes before time.
Shane Ferguson sent in a wicked corner to the near post where Odoffin ghosted off his marker and flashed a powerful header into the roof of the net.
But Preston regained the lead in first-half injury time when Evans produced a sublime turn and shot, which arrowed into the bottom corner for his ninth goal in 12 league games.
That proved the perfect tonic for the visitors and they came out firing in the second half, creating enough chances to have the game wrapped up by the hour mark.
Cannon saw a chipped effort glance off the crossbar after he held off a challenge from Cameron Humphreys before Ched Evans’ goalbound shot was blocked by Odoffin, with Bambo Diaby blazing a good chance over from the resulting corner.
Rotherham tried to get themselves back in the game but failed to get anywhere near an equaliser, with Odoffin’s 35th-minute equaliser their only shot on target in the whole match.
Meanwhile, Millwall consolidated their position in the Sky Bet Championship play-off places by beating strugglers Swansea 2-1 in a game low on quality.
After a tame first half which saw both sides retain possession but lack a cutting edge in the final third, the game burst into life.
Charlie Cresswell poked home the opener before Andreas Voglsammer doubled Millwall’s lead with his second in as many games.
In a breathless few minutes, Ryan Manning gave Swansea hope, deflecting a 20-yard strike from Matt Grimes past a wrong-footed George Long in the Millwall goal.
But Gary Rowett’s side held on, the win moving them two points clear of Blackburn, who occupy the final play-off spot.
Finally, in League Two, ex-Ireland U21 international Harry Charsley rescued a point for his side, as Newport drew 1-1 with AFC Wimbledon.
