Steve Bruce is expecting one of hardest matches of his tenure so far tomorrow night when his Pool side take on Lincoln City at Bloomfield Road.
Blackpool go into the Sky Bet League One encounter in fine form, winning their last four league matches but Bruce isn’t getting carried away, anticipating a real challenge tomorrow night against the Imps.
“It’s still very early and we have another game tomorrow,” he said.
“The test at this level is about playing consistently well on a Saturday and Tuesday most weeks. It’s been a tough schedule and task lately, but we are coming to the end of this busy month and thankfully the lads have put in great performances and got some big results.
“This is probably going to the biggest test as Lincoln are a good side. They haven’t lost away from home in around 13 games, which tells you a lot about them. It will be totally different to what we experienced at the weekend. A different challenge but one the team are looking forward to due to the form we are in.”
Tuesday night’s opponents have only lost once in the league this season, sitting one place above Pool in the table and Bruce knows how important the home fans will be for his side.
“They are very difficult to break down, they don’t give much away,” he said.
“They’ve been a very good team for the best part of a year now. We need the supporters to get behind us in all their might in what will be a really difficult game.”
Bruce became the first Blackpool manager to win their opening four league games when Pool downed Burton Albion 3-0, and he admits how positive the squad have been with him.
“It makes life easier as people come in bouncing and they don’t want to lose their place in the team,” he said.
“Thankfully we only had one person get injured last week and tomorrow will come to early for Dom Ballard but at least he was on the grass today, which is good to see.
“It’s very difficult to implement change straight away and you are always wary of that, but we felt that was what the squad wanted. I’m a different voice and have brought a new formation and thankfully it has gone well so far. Long may it continue. We still have a lot to do, and we can’t really do too much on the training field due to the number of games we are playing.”
Pool kept their second clean sheet in as many games on Saturday and Bruce knows how important the defensive side of the game will be to his side’s success this term.
“I have to admit we got away with a few on Saturday,” he said.
“We’ve got to make sure our concentration levels stay high because if you want to win football matches then you are going to have go be able to keep a clean sheet. You’ve always got an outstanding chance if you keep a clean sheet.”