Former Liverpool and Hull City man Kevin Stewart impressed with the pedigree of Blackpool's squad

Recent arrival Kevin Stewart has been impressed with the quality of Blackpool’s squad since joining - which is some compliment coming from a player that has played his football in the Championship in recent years.

The 27-year-old, a January addition on a free transfer, made his first start for the Seasiders in Tuesday night’s 2-0 win against Northampton Town.

Prior to making the move to Bloomfield Road, Stewart had spent three seasons in the Championship with Hull City.

And while he’s not even been on the Fylde coast for two weeks, the defensive midfielder has been impressed with what he’s witnessed.

“There’s some top players here, it’s a really good team,” Stewart told The Gazette.

“At the beginning of the season they didn’t really know each other that much because there was quite a lot of change in the summer, with 17 coming in.

“But it’s a really good squad and I already knew a few of them before I came in, so I knew there was a certain level of quality here.

“I’ve seen a lot more from everybody now and we defended so well against Northampton, the backline was brilliant and I was super impressed by those guys.

“But the workrate in general is something I’m really excited about.”

Stewart was delighted to make his first start against the Cobblers in midweek, having made his debut off the bench in the 5-0 win against Wigan Athletic last week.

“I didn’t know many of the lads until a week ago, so from my point of view I need to get that player understanding and get to know how players play and how they want to do things,” the former Liverpool man added.

“The group is still fairly new, so at times things might not connect or come together straight away in every game.

“But the more games we play, the more we can build on it and gel together a lot more. If we do that, I think we can be really dangerous.”

Prior to joining Blackpool, Stewart had been a free agent since leaving Hull in July.

While he did train with Brentford and turn out for their B Team, Tuesday night’s appearance was his first start in over six months.

“It’s been a crazy time, travelling around different places to train and trying to stay fit, which meant a lot of sessions by myself,” Stewart said.

“It’s paid off to be fair because I worked really hard and stayed as fit as anyone possibly can without playing games for six months.

“I felt good against Northampton so I guess those sessions paid off well, but we’ll see how well I do with more games to come.”

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