Winger Liam Feeney says comments made by Fleetwood Town manager Joey Barton before Saturday's clash between the two sides helped his Blackpool side claim a 3-1 win over their rivals at Bloomfield Road.
Ahead of the game, Barton had claimed that his Fleetwood side are a better team with better players than Blackpool, who he said were not a big club, although things did not appear to pan out that way on Saturday.
Feeney opened the scoring for the Seasiders just 11 minutes into the game, with strikes from Sullay Kaikai and Armand Gnanduillet putting Blackpool out of sight before Conor McAleny pulled one back late on for the visitors.
Speaking after the game to The Blackpool Gazette about those comments made by Barton, Feeney revealed: “Yeah, we all knew what was said. We actually spoke about it a little bit in the dressing room beforehand.
“Listen, that might be his way and it might be his honest opinion of what he thinks of us and his club, but we just use it as extra motivation.
“Those things can always come back to bite you, so I’d always be wary of being disrespectful to other professionals.
"He’s probably just backing his own club and I’m sure he’s just trying to wind a few people up before the derby game. Thankfully we did the talking on the pitch and managed to get the win."
Discussing the importance of Saturday's match, and the impact Barton's comments had on him and his teammates, Feeney continued: “We already knew what sort of game it was and how important it was locally to the fans and to our season.
“But it was just a little bit of extra motivation when someone is saying you’re not very good and certain things like that.
“You want to go out there and prove him wrong. So if every manager wants to do it and that’s the performance we’re going to put out, they’re more than welcome to.”
Following that win, Blackpool are now fourth in the League One standings, three points clear of Fleetwood in ninth, albeit having played two games more than Barton's side.
The Verdict
This does seem to be a bit of a reminder to be careful about what you say at times.
Barton has always been someone who likes to make a controversial comment or two, so it may well just have been the case that he was trying to play a few mind games here.
That however, appears to have backfired on him in this instance, with Blackpool coming out on top in what is a huge game in that part of the World.
Even so, there is still plenty of time left in the season, and the gap between the two sides remains minimal, meaning it will be interesting to see who exactly comes out on top between the pair come the end of the season.