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Birmingham City 2-2 Blackpool

Birmingham 2-2 Blackpool
© PA Photos
A 2-2 draw on the night at St Andrews gives Blackpool a 3-2 aggregate victory over Birmingham in their Championship playoff semi-final.

Blackpool have reached the Championship playoff final after a 2-2 draw at Birmingham City.

The result on the night has seen the Seasiders win the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

Blackpool's Tom Ince looked to be the most dangerous player in the opening exchanges, but the forward's first effort on goal was saved by Colin Doyle.

Ince was claiming for a penalty soon after when he believed that he was fouled in the box, but referee Chris Foy waved away the appeals.

As the hosts edged their way back into the match, Chris Burke saw his curled shot go narrowly wide of the post.

Birmingham's best chance of the opening 45 minutes came from Marlon King as the striker's back-post drive came back off the woodwork.

Ian Holloway's team took the lead at the end of the half when Stephen Dobbie was on hand to fire in after Alex Baptiste's overhead kick had hit Curtis Davies.

The Seasiders increased their lead minutes after the break as Matt Phillips's effort went in off the post.

However, Birmingham began their comeback in the 64th minute when Nikola Zigic struck a calm finish past Matt Gilks following Burke's incisive pass.

It was all square on the night with 15 minutes to play thanks to Davies's header from a corner.

Despite a late surge from Birmingham as they looked for the goal that would have taken the match to extra time, Blackpool stood firm in defence to set up a final against West Ham United.

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2Wycombe WanderersWycombe24156350262451
3Wrexham25156437181951
4Huddersfield TownHuddersfield23135536191744
5Barnsley2512673933642
6Reading2412573933641
7Stockport CountyStockport25108737271038
8Leyton Orient24114932221037
9Mansfield TownMansfield2311483126537
10Bolton WanderersBolton2311483534137
11Charlton AthleticCharlton239772721634
12Lincoln CityLincoln258892830-232
13Stevenage238781820-231
14Exeter CityExeter2494112831-331
15Blackpool247983235-330
16Rotherham UnitedRotherham237792123-228
17Wigan AthleticWigan2376102123-227
18Northampton TownNorthampton2568112439-1526
19Peterborough UnitedPeterborough2474134146-525
20Bristol Rovers2474132238-1625
21Crawley TownCrawley2355132443-1920
22Shrewsbury TownShrewsbury2445152444-2017
23Cambridge UnitedCambridge2445152243-2117
24Burton Albion2428142038-1814


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