The Friday night madness against Cardiff seems a distant memory and the celebrations of our first win of the season feel longer ago than the two week international break, however finally after a 15 day break Blackpool return to Championship football on Saturday afternoon. The ground which has had more name changes than Cheryl Cole will play host to the Seasiders as they travel to the John Smith's Stadium in Huddersfield.
You could argue that the two week break came at the wrong time for Jose Riga and his players. Having notched up that first win, they probably would have played again the next day just to keep that momentum going. However, the two week break has given the likes of Cubero, Orlandi and Clarke a chance to get fit, allow the new boys Blackman and Mendy to get to know their new team mates and give Riga two more weeks with a group of players who are finally finding their feet.
Whilst the last four games won't set the Championship alight a win, two draws and a defeat is a damn sight better than what came before it. If you take out the three goals we conceded against Norwich (especially as two were own goals), our defence has held firm of late with 3 clean sheets out of the last 6 games. However, the fact remains that we have still been unable to score more than one goal in any match this season and that must be Riga's priority. The good news, in part, is that all of our strikers have now got off the mark but any manager will tell you that a good side scores goals from across the pitch and with only Cywka chipping in, more will hopefully have been done on set pieces and taking opportunities from midfield.
When you look at the side, we do have plenty of options now and so presumably it'll be down to who's worked hardest in training and how Riga views his opponents to decide who will get a start. Does he stick with the winning side against Cardiff or will he play it more cautiously against Huddersfield? Our opponents will be the last team we play this season and could still be one of those teams in the mix at the bottom in May. An impressive 3-1 win at Wolves is their stand out result of the season although they only have secured one win at home this campaign. Having conceded 20 goals in 11 games, their defence looks like it could ship a few.
It's a tough four fixtures before the next international break and many have commented how the fixtures after that are mainly against sides in the bottom half. The important thing now is to get out of the bottom three and if Riga has now assembled a side that can compete in this league, then they should get something out of this trip to Yorkshire.