Brentford Manager Mark Warburton said his players were capable of maintaining the intensity they showed in their win over promotion-challengers AFC Bournemouth for the rest of the season.
The Bees bounced back from defeats against Watford and Charlton Athletic to beat Bournemouth 3-1 on Saturday.
Mark, speaking to Bees Player yesterday, said his side had looked lethargic against Charlton last week but were full of intensity against Bournemouth.
There are 14 games of the Sky Bet Championship season to go and a match against Blackpool tonight, Tuesday February 24, is the second of five matches in 14 days.
Mark said his team had to build on the Bournemouth win against a Blackpool team that were bottom of the table but had shown in recent matches against Nottingham Forest and Watford that they were dangerous.
“We are in the home stretch,” said the Brentford boss.
“We have 14 games left and now play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday and all of a sudden we’ll have ten games to go.
“It has been great to work on the training pitch and we want to follow-up a good performance on Saturday with one against Blackpool.
“The level of intensity we had on Saturday jumped out at us watching it back.
“It was a great reaction.
“We can maintain that intensity, we have done it for many games already.
“We have to prepare well.
“This will be another challenging game for us.
“Blackpool are scrapping and are committing numbers forward.
“There are giving it a crack, they scored four against Forest and were 2-0 up against Watford at half time.
“They are a dangerous opponent.”
Mark hailed the impact of substitutes Jon Toral and Alan McCormack in helping The Bees get the win on Saturday.
They had a 2-1 lead at half time but Bournemouth dominated before the changes – which also saw Chris Long introduced – enabled The Bees to regain the initiative.
They scored a third – Long’s first goal for the Club – to seal a 3-1 win.
Mark said he would consider whether to make changes for the visit of Blackpool.
“We have to find a balance between consistency and having people who can come in and keep it fresh,” he said.
“We have Tommy Smith, Jon Toral, Sam Saunders, Nico Yennaris and other options.
“It is good to use the squad.
“It is great to turn over and look at players like that on the bench.
“Jon Toral and Alan McCormack came on and made a real impact.
“We created chance after chance in the last ten minutes.”
Blackpool have only won four games all season but two of them have been in their last eight outings.
Mark said he expected them to come and attack.
“Blackpool have had their problems but are hungry now,” he said.
“There appears to be a unity about them and a desire.
“If they go down they will go down fighting.
“There are a number of points to play for; they are positive and pushing forward.
“They have a real threat.
“If we drop our standards we will get hurt.
“We have to contain the threat and hopefully deliver in front of goal.”
Bees Player subscribers can see a full video interview with Mark Warburton here.