Double red card shows Blackpool's desire says Jay Spearing

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However, the victory was overshadowed somewhat by the bizarre ending to the game, which saw Pool’s Donervon Daniels and Marc Bola both shown straight reds cards in stoppage time.

Blackpool held on to claim the win in Terry McPhillips’ first game as permanent manager.

Spearing said: “We felt we were the better team all round in the first half. Second half we started well again and defensively we were outstanding.

“When it’s 1-0 you do have it in the back of your mind that you need to kill the game off.

“But we stayed calm, we stayed as a unit and we still created chances.

“Again we probably could have ended it earlier than we did but we worked hard and, as you saw in the last minute, we were fighting and working hard for one another.”

Blackpool took that fighting spirit a bit too literally in injury time. With video footage failing to pick up the incident, it remains unclear what actually happened but Bola and Daniels appeared to be involved in an altercation as Blackpool prepared to defend a late corner.

McPhillips revealed Daniels was upset with Bola for failing to head the ball away from the penalty area during a period of pressure from the home side.

McPhillips denied there was a punch-up but acknowledged the pair may have had hold of each other.

“It’s one of those things,” Spearing said. “For me it just shows the desire to keep the clean sheet and to keep the ball out of the net.

“They’re happy now. Nothing has changed and there won’t be any hard feelings.

“That just shows you what this group is all about.

“Nothing against each other – the lads are hugging and laughing in the dressing room. It shows you the commitment and desire that they’ve got to defend that goal.

“Okay, they might have gone too far and they’ll be the first to admit that but we’re in this together.

“We win and we lose together and whatever happens we all stick together.”

The win was the perfect reward for a mammoth journey to Devon and the 29-year-old added: “It took us seven hours to get down to Plymouth and we said at half-time that it was going to be one hell of a journey home if we didn’t come away with the points we deserved.

“I think that was in the back of our minds and the defensive display from the back four, the midfield and even the strikers was outstanding.”