The Blackpool squad picked up further pre-season minutes with a friendly against AFC Fylde.

Steve Bruce states there were plenty of positives to take from Blackpool’s 4-3 pre-season victory over AFC Fylde - but admits the game gave him a reminder of the key area his squad need to work on.

There was a goal fest during the opening quarter of an hour. Strikes from Tom Bloxham and Jon Ustabasi left the sides level after six minutes, before a tidy finish from CJ Hamilton and a Lee Evans penalty put the visitors in control.

The latter of the three Seasiders scorers added another before the break, but only after Fylde had scored their second through Danny Ormerod - who made the most of a Franco Ravizzoli error.

It was slightly quieter after the break, with Mo Faris pulling back another goal for the home side.

The fixture at Mill Farm followed a behind-closed doors friendly against Accrington Stanley - which ended in a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday afternoon.

Like the game against the League Two outfit, the Blackpool boss spread out his squad’s game time, with nine changes coming during the second 45 minutes.

Reflecting on the game, Bruce said: “It’s all about the first half; the second died a bit of a death. In the first, I was pleased with a lot of aspects of us. On a hot day, Bloxham and Hamilton, with the pace they’ve got, were both terrific. The front four looked good.

“There were a lot of things that pleased me but it died a damp squib. I hated pre-season as a player, and I don’t like that much as a manager either.

“Defensively - we’ll forget about it. It reminds us that we’ve still got a lot of work to do in that department.

“There were individual errors, and it’s something we have to erase, but it’s better here now in a friendly, and it doesn’t matter when you score four, but in big games we can’t make those mistakes.

“It’s not about anything apart from physical work at the moment to get the players ready for the season in three weeks. They all look fit and healthy.”

Injury latest

After missing the midweek meeting with Accrington, Michael Ihiekwe was unavailable again, while Hayden Coulson, Albie Morgan and Kylian Kouassi were also added to the Seasiders’ list of absentees for the game against Fylde.

“We’ve got one or two little niggles, - we’ll see how they are on Monday, and get ready for a behind-closed-doors game against Fleetwood on Tuesday,” Bruce added.

“I would expect Michael (Ihiekwe) will be back, but it might be a little bit too early to assess Albie (Morgan), we’ll see how he is. He’s got a bit of a strain, which is always a worry, muscles are always the ones you try to protect.

“Kylian (Kouassi) has hurt his hamstring a little bit so we didn’t want to rush him. It’s a difficult one because he’s had two big hamstring injuries so anything he feels in the back of his leg is obviously a bit worrying so we’ve got to box clever; not so much (Hayden) Coulson because he reported in sick.”

Your next story from the Gazette: Blackpool boss hopeful new man can fill role made vacant this summer.