Steve Bruce was full of praise for two of his forward players as Blackpool cruised to a 3-1 win over Stevenage.
Rob Apter took the plaudits with a hat-trick in 12 second-half minutes but he was assisted each time by Ashley Fletcher.
“Fletch has looked sharp all week and I’m delighted he took it onto the pitch,” said the Blackpool boss.
“Especially second half; there was better quality from Fletch when he got there, he was calm and found the pass.
“That’s the quality he’s got and why he’s played at the level he has.
“And I’m pleased for the kid. [Apter] has had his first real breakthrough season with us and played a lot of games for somebody so young
“But since I walked through the door, I’ve picked him so it is nice when I see a young kid, and a Blackpool fan, score a hat-trick.
“That was great.”
The difference in performance from first to second half was like night and day, according to Bruce.
“First half, we were waiting for something to happen,” he said. “We didn’t really have enough intensity about us, didn’t look after the ball well enough and gave it away.
“It had an end-of-the-season feel to it, it felt like a testimonial game or a friendly game, and we had to change our mentality.
“It really seemed to work second half.
“We added a little bit more urgency, if that’s the right word, and that bit more intensity. I thought we were a bit passive in the first half.
“But second half, once we’ve got the goal, they abandoned their shape and we were blistering on the counter again. How often have we seen us like that away from home?
“Second half I was really pleased.”
Stevenage did have a late response, Carl Piergianni pulling one back after 77 minutes before a Dan Kemp goal was ruled out for offside.
That was too little, too late for Stevenage boss Alex Revell.
He said: “It’s not the result that we wanted, obviously.
“We were a team in control in the first half. We did move the ball well and get it into that final third but then there was no clinicality, no desire and a real lack of aggression to chase crosses in and do all the things we’ve been trying really hard to correct.
“We spoke at half-time about giving the ball away as good teams will punish you and for the first and third goal, we’ve given the ball away too cheaply.
“That 15-minute spell was unacceptable. The first goal was always going to be crucial and we didn’t do enough with our dominant performance in the first half.”
