Simon Grayson's verdict on Blackpool's 3-1 victory against Fylde coast neighbours Fleetwood Town

Simon Grayson was delighted to send Blackpool's supporters home in high spirits after his side saw off Fleetwood Town 3-1 in today's Fylde coast clash.
Simon Grayson shakes Joey Barton's hand at the full-time whistleSimon Grayson shakes Joey Barton's hand at the full-time whistle
Simon Grayson shakes Joey Barton's hand at the full-time whistle
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The Gazette's match report from Blackpool's Fylde coast pulsating win against ne...

Goals from Liam Feeney, Sullay Kaikai and Armand Gnanduillet saw the Seasiders claim the bragging rights in what was a pulsating and heated encounter at Bloomfield Road.

Conor McAleny grabbed a late goal for Fleetwood as they threatened a late comeback, but Grayson's men held on for the three points which takes them up to fourth in the League One table.

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“It’s what you expected from a game where the two teams are geographically close together and close together in the table," Grayson said afterwards.

“You know there’s going to be a lot of blood and thunder, some quality and some good goals, some mistakes being made.

“But ultimately it’s about what happens at 5pm on a Saturday and that you get three points and I’m delighted we’ve done that.

“Scoring goals at any time is a good time, but we wanted to get out of the traps quickly and I said to Liam Feeney before the game ‘you need to be scoring more goals’.

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“His assists are good, his general play is good, but we need our wider players to be in and around goal a bit more to score goals.

“It’s great he took that advice and scored and to get a second straight after half time was a good time to score.

“It’s a great delivery from Sullay into a dangerous area and it flies into the top corner and then we get the third one, which is a well-worked goal.

“It was then about seeing the game through in a professional manner. Yes, they threw bodies forward and had lots and lots of possession, but it was only in the last 10 minutes where Jak Alnwick has had anything to do.

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“I thought we defended well although I’m disappointed we didn’t keep a clean sheet, as that would have been nice as the defenders did really well and we worked hard as a team.

“We sat back and let them have possession of the ball and the stats will probably prove that they had a lot more possession than us.

“But you do whatever is required to win a game and we had chances to counter quickly and get the fourth one when it was 3-0.

“We couldn’t get it unfortunately but it was a good performance from the lads and our supporters will go home in high spirits.”