Blackpool boss Neil Critchley felt his side got their supporters on side from the first whistle by flying out of the blocks in the win over Rovers.

The Seasiders led inside four minutes through Shayne Lavery, and despite losing the striker to injury soon after, his replacement Jerry Yates doubled the advantage 20 minutes later.

That gave Pool a deserved half-time lead, but after Ben Brereton pulled one back early in the second half, and the hosts lost goalkeeper Chris Maxwell and defender Richard Keogh to injury, they had to hold out against some second half Rovers pressure to see out the win.

Critchley was delighted with how his side responded to the setback of losing three players to injury and was left to savour a fine result which made it 13 points from the last 18 available to head into the international break.

"I thought we were fantastic in the first half and played some wonderful football," he said.

"We were deservedly winning at half-time. We spoke before hand about being at home and wanting to get the crowd behind us early on. I thought we did that.

“We started on the front foot and scored early and scored a fantastic second goal. We had them wobbling a bit and I thought we may have gone on to get a third, but Shayne coming off early as well as Richard changed things slightly.

"In the second half we had to deal with a fair bit of disruption with the changes. They score the third goal (of the game) and then they gain momentum. We had to defend in our numbers and defend we did.

“I've got nothing but good words to say about the players. It was an unbelievable atmosphere in a derby match where we've won three points. It was a really good day for us.

"I'm excited to see where we can go this season. We've got a strong squad, and there's lots more to come."