Gwion Edwards scored twice and skipper Luke Chambers and Teddy Bishop once as Town beat Blackpool 4-1 at Bloomfield Road to return to the top of the League One table. Chambers gave the Blues the lead with a brilliant strike on 16, Edwards made it two in the 37th minute before Bishop added the third just before the break. Gary Madine pulled one back for the Tangerines on the hour but Edwards sealed it with his second with 10 minutes remaining.
Town boss Paul Lambert made three changes from the team which drew 1-1 away against the MK Dons last week with Myles Kenlock, Emyr Huws and Alan Judge coming into the XI.
Kenlock was at left-back for Stephen Ward, who was expected to miss out with the achilles injury he suffered at Stadium MK, Huws took over in midfield for Jon Nolan, who was left out as a precaution due to a calf strain, and Judge came in for Freddie Sears, who dropped to the bench. The Irishman started on the right with Edwards moving to the left.
Loanees Mark McGuinness and Keanan Bennetts were both included in the 18 for the first time, while Luke Woolfenden and Kayden Jackson were also among the subs.
Former Town midfielder Grant Ward and ex-loanee Luke Garbutt, making his full league debut, both started for the Seasiders.
Striker Madine was handed his first start of the season, while new addition Jordan Gabriel made his League One debuts for the home side.
The players took a knee in solidarity with Black Lives Matter before the game got under way in blustery conditions.
Toto Nsiala blocked a Madine effort on the edge of the box in the fifth minute with the Tangerines starting the game on the front foot and Town struggling to pass their way out from the back.
On 14 Garbutt shot over from distance following a Blackpool corner on the right, but two minutes later, the Blues took the lead via their first serious attack of the game.
Andre Dozzell played a ball into the feet of Oli Hawkins, who laid it off to Huws, who fed Edwards.
The Welshman left Gabriel standing as he broke down the left at pace and sent over a cross which reached Chambers bursting into the area.
As the ball bounced up to him potentially awkwardly, the skipper smashed a superb strike which flew past Blackpool captain and keeper Chris Maxwell to his right and into the roof of the net.
Chambers celebrated his second goal of the second, and almost certainly his best for Town, in front of the empty stand behind the goal, cupping his hand to an ear.
Chances were a rarity at both ends following the goal with neither side able to create a significant opportunity. However, just before the half hour, a loose ball fell to Keshi Anderson on the edge of the box but his strike flew well over.
Moments later, the ball was cut back to Ward who turned and shot but the former Town man’s effort was charged down by a determined Blues backline.
Town made it 2-0 with their second shot of the game in the 37th minute. Kenlock dispossessed Gabriel on the Town left and brought it inside before it was stabbed away from him. Bishop played a clever ball out wide for Edwards and Hawkins left it for the Welshman, who cut in and hit a low shot between Maxwell and his right post for his third goal of the season.
A minute after the goal Ethan Robson was booked for the latest in a series of fouls on Bishop and in the 39th minute the midfielder almost created a third for the Blues.
The midfielder chased a ball down the right and crossed it low towards Hawkins, who shot over from the edge of the area under pressure from Gabriel, who the former Portsmouth man felt had fouled him. Referee Christopher Sarginson believed otherwise and it would have been a harsh penalty.
In the final scheduled minute of the half, Town made it 3-0. Anderson went to ground somewhat easily on the Blues’ right just inside the Blackpool half, Bishop picked up the loose ball and made a trademark driving run towards the area before curling a low shot which crept just inside Maxwell’s right post.
It was the midfielder’s third goal of the season at a ground where he enjoyed one of his best afternoon’s as an 18-year-old in his breakthrough 2014/15 season, picking up two assists in a 2-0 win.
On-loan Nottingham Forest full-back Gabriel was booked for a frustrated foul in injury time before referee Sarginson brought to an end a half which couldn’t have gone much better for the Blues.
While it was never a fluent passing display, the windy conditions made that unlikely, they looked a threat every time they went near the Blackpool area, scoring with three of their four shots.
At the other end, the Town defence had been as resolute as they were at Stadium MK last week with Nsiala and Wilson repelling everything sent in their direction.
Neither side made a change at the break and five minutes after the restart Kenlock was booked for pulling back CJ Hamilton on the right touchline.
Following the resultant free-kick, Hamilton claimed Kenlock had fouled him again as the ball came back in from the left. Referee Sarginson was again not interested.
Ward was booked for a foul on Wilson in the 52nd minute, then five minutes later Jackson was introduced for his first action of the season for Hawkins up front.
Unsurprisingly given the scoreline, Town were playing conservatively, perhaps too much so.
And as the game approached the hour mark, the home side were given some hope when Madine pulled a goal back.
Gabriel crossed low from the right, Chambers failed to clear and the former Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton man slammed the loose ball into the net off Holy.
Perhaps realising they had invited too much pressure on to themselves, the Blues began to look forward for the first time since the break. A Huws shot was blocked, then Edwards curled a low effort which deflected just wide.
As Town prepared to take the corner, Anderson was booked for an earlier foul on Bishop. From the flag-kick, Jackson turned the ball into side-netting but from an offside position.
Bishop shot wide from distance in the 64th minute, then three minutes later Dozzell was yellow-carded for a foul on Anderson.
Town handed a debut to on-loan Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Bennetts in the 69th minute, Bishop making way. The former Tottenham youngster went to the right of the front three with Judge moving back into the midfield three.
Four minutes later Madine hit a low shot which Holy saved but didn’t hold on to, Kenlock outmuscling Hamilton to win the loose ball. On 75 MJ Williams took over from Anderson for the Tangerines.
Town had been poor in possession with too many passes going astray or out of play. But in the 78th minute Jackson was sent away on the right with Maxwell - sent off for Preston for felling the Town striker when rashly charding out of goal in November 2018 at Portman Road - similarly rushed off his line and slipped. However, the Blues sub failed to find Judge with his pass.
The ball quickly returned to Town and Bennetts curled a shot not too far past Maxwell’s right post.
But a fourth Blues goal wasn’t long in coming. Edwards was found on the left by a Chambers long pass, the Welshman’s first touch brilliantly took him away from Gabriel and he burst towards goal before hitting a well-struck shot past Maxwell to his right for his second of the match and his fourth of the season.
That goal killed off the already unlikely prospect of a Blackpool comeback and the Blues saw out the remaining minutes.
Having given themselves a three-goal lead in the first half, the result was never in any real doubt after the break.
The home side didn’t give up despite the scoreline, while Town sat back a little too much in the early stages, but despite Madine’s goal and some pressure from the Tangerines, a dramatic turnaround never seemed likely.
The victory and Lincoln’s 2-1 home defeat to Bristol Rovers sees the Blues return to the top, now by a point with Accrington Stanley at Portman Road next Saturday.
Blackpool: Maxwell (c), Gabriel, Robson, Anderson (Williams 75), Yates, Madine, Ward, Turton, Ekpiteta, Hamilton, Garbutt. Unused: Sims, Thorniley, Mitchell, Kemp, Antwi, Lubala.
Town: Holy, Chambers (c), Nsiala, Wilson, Kenlock, Dozzell, Huws, Bishop (Bennetts 69), Judge, Edwards, Hawkins (Jackson 57). Unused: McGuinness, Woolfenden, Lankester, Bennetts, Sears, Cornell. Referee: Christopher Sarginson (Staffordshire).