There was a change each in defence, midfield and attack, as Burley sought to find the winning combination. Thomas' troublesome achilles kept him out with all importantly Dailly moving inside to organise central defence.
Disappointingly Viafara dropped to the bench with the return of Nathan Dyer when his bite was much needed in central midfield. Burley gave Surman another runout in centre midfield with mixed results, when Euell a more natural attacking central midfielder might have given the side a better balance in the middle.
Wright-Phillips came in for Saganowski to resume his decent partnership with Stern John with the two combining for the winner.
On the Cross verdict
Did we really win 1-0? You wouldn't have guessed it from the scattering of boos that rang out at the final whistle.
This really wasn't a performance to either set the pulses racing or to give much optimism for the future, but at least when you are playing badly a win can provide much needed confidence. It's just too tempting to roll out the cliché about 'winning ugly', we certainly did.
There were signs that Saints were returning to something like our best early in the second half, when we played with purpose, hustle and penetration, until the nerves set back in and we were unable to retain possession to relieve the Blackpool pressure.
Football fans often complain about being on the end of poor decisions, but luckily for us, the big ones went our way. The biggest were a dubious penalty with Euell looking to have simply run into Blackpool defenders and the failure of the ref to let play continue when a clear advantage should have been played for Blackpool's equaliser. In truth, Saints may have stopped playing when the ref blew his whistle, but either way it was a peach of a cross that would have had our brittle defence in trouble.
After two weeks digesting the misery of the drubbing at Sheffield Wednesday, we have just two days to revel in the glory of this win before we have the unenviable task of travelling to Ipswich who boast a superb home record.
All is not lost with Saints having played much of our best football when in our former traditional role of the underdog. Wins over high-flying West Brom at home and away to Sheffield United show that.
The real concern is that events off the pitch continue to have a bearing on it. Burley is clearly frustrated by what lies ahead in January and it doesn't help the players having so much uncertainity hanging over the club.
Glass half-full, we are three points off the play-offs spot, glass half-empty with a troubled January ahead we moved two points further away from the dreaded drop zone where those that were relegated with us Palace and Norwich currently hover around.
Man of the match: For coming back after a terrible afternoon at Sheffield Wednesday, Davis deserves credit for doing what little he had to do faultlessly. He swept up well at the back, saved well at their striker's feet and dealt well with a howler of a backpass from Hammill. This was a day when even what looked a rush of blood to head to chase the ball well outside his area came off for him.
Cameo of the day: Hammill came on for the last five minutes and what a five minutes. After showing so much talent in pre-season, Hammill played like a kid who'd won a competition. Unfortunately, he lost the ball with nearly every touch when we desperately needed to retain possession and powered a howler of a backpass to Davis. Had a golden chance to make the game safe after an excellent pass from Rasiak, but spooned over when it was easier to score. Let's hope he just needs a runout on his more natural right side and we can see the best of his raw talent.
Thorn in the side: Amid distastleful scenes the Blackpool drummer was ejected from the Saints mid-way through the first half, despite having reportedly written for permission to bring in his drum. Apparently he was asked to stop after complaints to stewards and took exception to being parted from his pride and joy. The ugly mêlée didn't help build reputations.