Blackpool boss Steve Bruce was full of praise for his side after they secured back-to-back away wins in Sky Bet League One as goals from Ashley Fletcher and Olly Casey handed the visitors a 2-0 victory at Lincoln.
The Tangerines won 3-1 at Exeter at the weekend and produced an excellent display – their first success at the LNER Arena for 27 years – to beat an Imps side who thrashed Peterborough 5-1 only a few days ago.
“Thankfully we took another couple of chances today and put back-to-back away wins together and it sets us up nicely,” said Bruce. “We’ve just got to work out how to win at home now.
“I am delighted with the attitude of the players. I thought defensively the centre-backs in particular were terrific: they put their heads on it, blocks, challenges, they were absolutely fantastic to a man. And if you keep a clean sheet you don’t get beat.
“Lincoln are a very difficult team to play against. They are a bit of a throwback, they ask you questions, they put the ball in the box and you have to defend well. It’s no surprise to me they are there or thereabouts.”
On striker Fletcher, he added: “You need ability to finish like that, it was a real class finish. I am delighted for him, he has put in the hard yards. People are seeing and taking about him again, which is great to see.”
Blackpool took the lead in the 32nd minute when a simple ball through the City backline was not cut out, leaving Fletcher with a clean run on goal and he deftly dinked his effort over the advancing Zach Jeacock into the net.
The Tangerines doubled their lead after 58 minutes when a corner into City’s box caused havoc and in the ensuing melee, Casey stabbed the ball home.
In total, the Imps rained in nearly 20 shots on the Blackpool goal, without breaching their rearguard and City head coach Michael Skubala lamented: “It’s a tough one to take – we had about 40 box entries and a lot of shots, but it just felt like it wasn’t going to go in tonight. I thought they defended very, very well.
“I am disappointed we conceded two soft goals – they weren’t us, we’re normally really solid. And the second one killed the game, but we kept going, kept chasing.
“There were some positive things in there, although it doesn’t feel like it with the result, but we have to be better in both boxes.
“The final ball, that little bit of quality was lacking, but it wasn’t through lack of effort. If we’d stuck a couple of chances away it could have been a different game.”