Tom Cleverley proud of Plymouth’s response to slow start
Argyle won on the road.
Tom Cleverley was proud of Plymouth’s mentality in their 4-2 victory over Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
Argyle trailed to Jordan Brown’s goal on the half-hour mark, before a Oliver Irow brace either side of the break turned the contest in the visitors’ favour.
Harvey White and Bim Pepple were on hand with further goals for the Pilgrims, either side of one from Jerry Yates.
“My blood pressure was probably at its highest after the first 15 minutes,” Cleverley said.
“I saw my team a little bit flat. We faced a more direct style of player than we were expecting, and that caused us issues and facing our own goals.
“We did a much better job in the second half. The players deserve a lot of credit, and scored four quality goals.
“After a flat 15 minutes I’ve seen us lose confidence, and think a team is going to be a match for us. It’s a massive tick to ride that wave.
Then, at 3-2 – the professionalism and calmness of the players… That mentality and calmness of themselves has got longevity. Mentality and goals in the team will give the chance to come back from losing positions.
“I’m really happy with the result, but more so how the players carried out their responsibilities today. That will give us a good chance to stay where we want to be.
“The quality and mentality in front of goal at key times helped us to win the game.”
Blackpool boss Ian Evatt was left concerned by his side’s defensive woes.
“It started really positively, in the first half an hour I thought we were excellent,” he said.
“We were on the front foot, got the goal, and created lots of problems. We looked like a really good team.
“One mistake – there’s two men on the edge and we lose a duel. Against these types you get punished. We got punished, and we never recovered.
“At half-time we were telling them to stop feeling sorry for themselves and that we needed to reset to reproduce what we did in the first half an hour.
“We looked like we were back to last year where we’re not recovering from mistakes.
“We’re conceding too many goals. I need to look at myself and what we’re doing. We will do our best in this break to resolve issues because we’re conceding too many chances.
“It’s been a theme so far that we’re having to work really hard for our chances and it’s too easy at the other end. There are clearly some fundamental issues that I need to look at.”