Holloway bursting with pride

Ian Holloway struggled to contain his emotions after seeing Blackpool book their place in the Championship play-off final.

The Seasiders entered the second leg of their semi-final showdown with Birmingham holding a slender 1-0 lead, and a one-goal advantage proved to be enough.

Having surged into a 2-0 lead at St Andrew's on Wednesday they were pegged back to 2-2, and were hanging on towards the end, but they did just enough to book a Wembley date with West Ham on 19th May.

"Words fail me. I'm so proud," Holloway told Sky Sports.

"We got ourselves in a brilliant situation, this crowd and their team, what a brilliant fight back that was. If they had got that equaliser and made it 3-2 on the night, I couldn't see us coming back. But it's over, we have done it and we are going to Wembley again. It's magnificent."

Blackpool led through goals from Stephen Dobbie and Matt Phillips, but saw Nikola Zigic and Curtis Davies haul Birmingham back into the tie during an enthralling second half.

Getting better

"Who knows what's going to happen, but I can't tell you how proud I am of the whole club. It's absolutely brilliant."
Ian Holloway Quotes of the week

Holloway added: "Halfway through the second half I felt fine. Once they got a goal, I was going to put on Keith Southern to shore it up a little bit. They manipulated a fantastic goal and it changed everything. The crowd were on their side and it got them going and we forgot how to play.

"At the end of the day it was about finishing with one more goal than them. Everybody was saying about their home record, and they should be very proud of it, but I'm very proud of my boys today coming here and doing that."

Blackpool tasted play-off success in 2009/10, but lasted just one season in the Premier League.

Holloway is hoping things will be different this time around, with the Seasiders setting their sights on an immediate return to the top flight.

He said: "I want to build from the top to the bottom. I have got a great group of lads in there and I'm so proud of everything that we've done. We've played some fantastic stuff, I think we are getting better.

"Who knows what's going to happen, but I can't tell you how proud I am of the whole club. It's absolutely brilliant."