Stephen Dobbie's verdict on Blackpool's final day win at Norwich City & fielding youngsters

A Morgan Rogers goal, his first for the club, helped the Seasiders claim a 1-0 win against Norwich City in their final game of the season.

While there was nothing at stake in the game, Dobbie felt it was crucial his players took the game as seriously as possible and rewarded the fans with a performance and positive result.

“I thought the lads were excellent,” he said.

“It’s obviously been a tough time from last Friday, but we reiterated what we needed from the players because we had travelling fans and we didn’t want to let them down.

“I thought every man, including those that came off the bench, were fantastic, so huge credit to them.

“There was something on this game, because like I said we had a lot of fans in that stand so there was no way I was going to let the boys slack off.

“We put out the side we thought was going to hurt Norwich and we did that, so I’m very pleased.”

Dobbie also took the opportunity to hand a senior debut to 20-year-old Alex Lankshear, while Rob Apter was also brought off the bench.

Blackpool’s interim boss, who ended his spell with three wins from his six games in charge, insists it was far from a token gesture.

“Alex and Rob have been fantastic in the development squad this year, Brad Holmes as well,” he added.

“It wasn’t one of those where we were thinking we wouldn’t put them on.

“You look through the squad, you’ve got Charlie (Patino), Morgan (Rogers) and Lewis (Fiorini), they’re young players so the way we’ve approached it is to give them the confidence and freedom to go and express themselves. I think that showed in the way we’ve played these last six games.”

Dobbie has certainly put himself in the frame to take the head coach on a permanent basis, but the 40-year-old revealed no talks have been held as yet.

The club’s interim boss will be back at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday evening for the development squad’s game against a Manchester United XI, before talks are likely to take place with the hierarchy after that.