Jones: Tangerines victory shows Hatters are made of 'sterner stuff'

The on-loan Leyton Orient striker came off the bench to tap home from two yards out after visiting keeper Dean Lyness failed to hold Luke Gambin's effort as Jones said: “It’s just a wonderful response. There’s been a lot of negativity and I’ve had to defend that and question my players, but they responded.

“They’re a young group, so there’s going to be inconsistencies, they’re not going to be at the top level all the time, but they’re getting there. What a wonderful response and they showed that they're built of sterner stuff than before.

“We started the game superbly well and for 20 minutes we camped in their half as our keeper made a few saves from distance.

"In terms of how we went about our work and the structure we had about us, I thought we were excellent, and the players responded.

“The work-rate they put in, how we played, we got in so many opportunities, that if we just had a little bit more cutting edge, it could have been more comfortable.”

The Town chief knew his side haven’t been at their best in recent weeks, but felt some of that was down the youthful nature of the squad he has put together at Kenilworth Road this term.

He added: “These (Blackpool) are a good side, a very, very good side, they’re on an unbelievable run, we've shown we're a good side too.

“We sometimes let ourselves down, we sometimes have an element of naivety, but we're a young side, we have the second youngest squad in the league.

"As I keep saying, in that top six or seven, we have got by far the youngest side and sometimes they need a rest. They can't keep churning out (performances). When you're an old warhorse and a 27, 28, 29-year-old, you can do that. We've got a young group that need looking after and that’s what we do.

"James Justin, what a performance from a young kid, 19 years of age, so many of them are 23, 24, Pelly Ruddock, Glen Rea. We lack experience, but we’ve got a real freshness about us, we want to win the game, they want to learn, want to get better.

"And this group are going to go through the roof, absolutely through the roof.”