Tom Cleverley hopes his first league win as Plymouth boss can be a springboard to better things after Malachi Boateng scored a 48th-minute winner in a 1-0 victory over Blackpool.
Boateng latched on to a through ball from Ayman Benarous before crashing the ball home from inside the box to end a frustrating run of four defeats for new boss Cleverley.
Injury-hit Argyle were also boosted by new Swiss striker Lorent Tolaj, signed yesterday on a four-year contract from Port Vale, and Cleverley is seeing positive signs.
“I thought we deserved three points,” the former Manchester United midfielder said.
“It’s a case of having to walk before we can run. I was never expecting that first win to be a four or five nil demolition.
“Blackpool are a good side. In a couple of months that could have been two or three nil but today 1-0 was enough.
“It was a high-pressure game for our players today and important that we got that first win.
“In the last 20 minutes we looked like a team who knew how to win.
“I thought the impact of the substitutes was big.
“(Goalkeeper) Luca (Ashby-Hammond) looked good today and deserves his first clean sheet.
“If you asked me how do we win this game today? I would have said 1-0.
“We have looked solid the last two games when we have not got the ball.
“The players deserved that, not once have they lost belief.
“Now it’s all about consistency. It’s no secret that Malachi has been fabulously consistent.
“I think this will be a real springboard for us.”
Blackpool have lost five of their six games in all competitions this season.
And a furious boss Steve Bruce said: “It doesn’t get any easier.
“I have seen signs today that we were better than we have been, a few people back which can always help us.
“Unfortunately I am saying it again we have not been able to improve defensively, and I am not just saying defenders or the goalkeeper. I am talking about the whole team.
“We have got to be better defensively as a team. It was something which nagged away at me last season and if you saw the amount of goals we scored I am sure we would have been a lot better off if we defended better.
“This season again the frustration is there for all of us.
“We have given a poor goal away two minutes after half-time where we have hoped that we could see it through.
“You can say anything you want at half-time and we have conceded straight again haven’t we.
“It was a ricochet that went their way so there’s not much we can do about that but we still should have defended better than we did.”
