Brrrr....a freezing cold wintry day on The North Sea coast.  Why do we never seem to get Blackpool in the summer months?   It was one of the longest drives up from Bristol we had so far encountered.  We stopped at a pub on the edge of Preston called the Flying Winger.  A chain pub but it was clean and spacious so couldn't grumble.   Soon we were in the town with the tower ahead.  Although we did get a little lost and had to ask for directions. We parked in a side street very close to the ground.  It was one of those typical Northern red-brick terraces.  I half expected to look round the side of the houses and see a man feeding his pigeons to his whippet!   The ground back in 2000 was still in pretty much the same state it had been for the past 5 decades and in a desperate state of disrepair.  It had a very nice rusty feel to it, if I can use that as a suitable adjective.  Everything was ramshackle, but marvellously so.   The away end was situated on a huge bank of open terracing at the North end of the ground.  However, only the lower part of the terrace was still in use.  There was a thin gap in the railings to struggle through to the ancient looking stand to our left. My Dad asked a steward where the toilets were.  "You're standing in them." cam the jokey reply.  Obviously it wasn't just us who thought the ground needed updating!   With the wind whipping off the sea, City set about Blackpool with gusto.  With the departure of Tony Pulis, who had gone some way to ruining the club, the trio of Tony Fawthrop, Leroy Rosenior and Buster Footman had taken over the running of the team and it was like the side had been reborn.  Youngsters like Simon Clist were brought in and the team was playing with flair and confidence again. Scott Murray again got a typical goal, cutting in from the right to put us one up.  Blackpool equalised with a sloppy goal from our point of view.  However Keith Millen popped up with a surprising winner to send us home happy.