Saturday 6 December 2014 19:18, UK
Lee Clark could not contain his delight after Blackpool claimed only their second win of the season, and the first of his tenure, with a 1-0 victory over his former side Birmingham.
Steven Davies scored the only goal in the second half to give bottom-of-the-table Blackpool all three points and lift them to within eight points of safety in the Sky Bet Championship.
The defeat is Birmingham's first in their last six games and their first since Gary Rowett took charge while the Seasiders are now unbeaten in three games.
And Clark was over the moon with a result the former Blues boss hopes can kick-start his side's push for safety.
"I thought my team stuck to the game plan terrifically well. They worked extremely hard against a team that's probably top three in the form table," he said.
"Since Gary has got in there they've been on a terrific run and you know they are a good team.
"We knew we had to be at our very best today to get a result and in the second half especially we've created more chances so we're delighted with that, we're delighted with the clean sheet.
"The feeling is the best feeling in the world in team sport at five o'clock on a Saturday - you cannot beat it with anything.
"There's only your personal life that can beat it when you have kids and that. But we're not getting over-excited, we've still got a big job on our hands and we'll keep progressing.
"There were some outstanding performances out there. We've handled their wide players well because they are a real threat and they've been on form."
Meanwhile, for Rowett and the Blues, the defeat ends what had been a fine unbeaten run to start his reign and the former Burton boss admitted his players might have been too keen to prove a point to their former manager.
"We never got going," he said. "You felt it was one of those games. You knew it was going to be scrappy.
"I don't think the pitch helped us play the way we wanted to play but you've got to manage that.
"We spoke about it early in the game that they'd put the pressure on.
"I'm disappointed for the players because obviously they've set those levels but I'm disappointed that they didn't quite get to those today.
"There's a lot of them playing against their old manager and I think some of them in terms of nervous energy expended a lot in getting up for the game and I don't think that helped them.
"Sometimes when you want to put your best performance in occasionally it takes energy away from you.
"Even not at our best I thought it would be a 0-0 game, maybe decided by a mistake and unfortunately I think the mistake was ours."
