Terry McPhillips warned the Premier League’s big hitters his Blackpool side are ready for anyone in the Carabao Cup fourth round after they eased to a 2-0 victory against QPR.
Armand Gnanduillet and Jay Spearing scored either side of half-time for the Tangerines, who progress to the last 16 for the first time since 2007.
And manager McPhillips is now eyeing up an even bigger scalp in the next round, insisting Blackpool can mix it with the best if they repeat their performance against the Championship side.
“The lads were brilliant. We made five changes and they were all brilliant. It just shows you the competition for places,” he said.
“They’re a massive club in the Championship but we can only count on ourselves and I thought we were superb. We outplayed them.
“It would have been nice if we’d got that second goal a little bit earlier. I thought to a man we were brilliant.
“Sticking it in the net has been a problem for us. We’ve kept another clean sheet against a team which has made a lot of changes as well but has a lot of good players who have gone for big money in the past.
“It was a physical game but we dealt with that well and kept our discipline. I’m delighted. I’m hoping for a big club in the draw for the lads, for the club and the fans. We can take them on.
“It’s a really good night for the club and hopefully we get a bit of luck in the draw, and hopefully another big game in the fourth round.”
QPR made nine changes and it showed, with little coherence in attack or defence against a well-drilled Blackpool side.
The hosts took the lead just before the half-hour mark as Gnanduillet converted Ben Heneghan’s knock-down, while Heneghan and Spearing went close to a second.
QPR were reduced to 10 men when Jordan Cousins was shown a second yellow card after the break and Spearing wrapped it up late on with a thunderous strike.
Rangers boss Steve McClaren was livid at full-time, insisting many of his squad players missed their chance to make a positive impression.
“We have got talent but you need other ingredients to win and we did not have that. There are people with their eye on the first team but that was an eye-opener for everyone tonight,” he said.
“Blackpool were different. We made nine changes and gave the players the opportunity to play but they could not cope with the physicality of Blackpool.
“I was frustrated with what I was seeing. The senior players were frustrated with what was going on.
“It was a frustrating night for everybody and it was an eye-opener for quite a few of our players.”
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