Tom Shaw was pleased with how his Lincoln City side executed their game plan as they ran out 4-1 winners against the ten men of Blackpool in the Carabao Cup third round.
Debutant Tanto Olaofe opened the scoring with just over ten minutes of the first half remaining, when he capitalised on a mistake in the Blackpool defence.
However, the two sides still went in level at the break as Leighton Clarkson spectacularly curled home a free kick from the right corner of the penalty area.
The Imps then opted for a more direct style of play which saw them rewarded, when Blackpool centre back Zac Ashworth was given his second yellow card of the game.
Before goals from Tom Bayliss, Rob Street and Callum Elder sent the side into the third round and Shaw spoke on that direct passing in the second half when he said: “We’re really pleased with how got from our third to the middle third in the first half.
“But it was really important from there that we carried a threat. We didn’t want it to look pretty, we wanted to be really effective and once the red card came especially, we spoke about the type of delivery that we need to score.
“That’s a big part of what we do, we want to stress the opposition always, so we’re really pleased that a few of those bits came out tonight.”
The head coaches also gave out seven full debuts in their starting 11, as they picked up four goal involvements between them, before their newest addition Ethan Wheatley made his debut off the bench.
Shaw spoke on their impact after such a long time away, he said: “We’ve had to be super patient physically more than anything.
“Lads have come at different parts of pre-season from other clubs, so we’ve had to be patient.
“We thought it was appropriate for those lads to start tonight, and they gave an excellent account of themselves.”
Alongside those changes, also came the shift to a back five formation and on that, the 39-year-old said: “We looked at what Blackpool have been doing so far.
“This is a very difficult game, our experiences here over the last few years, tell us that it’s always a very difficult game.
“So, we just thought that was best for this evening, best for the opposition, best for the lads who were going to play, and I thought tactically they were very good tonight.”