New boss Steve Bruce overcomes nerves as Blackpool edge Exeter victory

Steve Bruce admitted to experiencing a few nerves ahead of his first game back in football management, when he oversaw Blackpool’s 2-1 League One win at home to Exeter.

The Seasiders looked to have dropped two points when Ed Francis cancelled out CJ Hamilton’s first-half goal after 88 minutes.

But Blackpool captain James Husband bundled in a stoppage-time winner to give Blackpool their first league win of the season and have Bruce smiling widely after his return to the dugout.

“I’m delighted,” said the veteran boss. “Look, we should have been out of sight, if the truth be known – we had chances to go two and three up but the first-half performance was excellent.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we tried to implement something a little bit different for them. And you couldn’t fault the effort and endeavour, we just needed to be a bit more clinical.

“All in all, it’s been a really, really good day.

“It’s always a good day when you win. When you’re on the wrong side of it, it’s the worst feeling in the world, of course.

“But what pleased me was before the goal, we’ve had three or four opportunities before we scored, which I was really pleased about but it’s part of our DNA – you don’t give up.”

Bruce has been out of football since leaving West Brom in October 2022 but said the excitement of last-gasp wins remains with him. And, at the age of 63, was happy to dismiss any thoughts of retirement.

“Hey, I thoroughly missed the game of football,” he added. “I missed a Saturday afternoon and what it’s all about and the preparation all week to go out on a Saturday afternoon.

“It’s what I do and I simply missed it, I wasn’t ready for retirement, you know.

“Everything seemed right about it, I don’t have to go up and down motorways, I’ll be home in an hour. I’d nerves this morning – at my age! I got to get up and get started and go ‘here we go – Saturday afternoon again’. How great is that?”

While Bruce was revelling in his latest victory, Exeter boss Gary Caldwell said he had gone through a range of emotions, from thinking Francis’ incredible strike from the tightest of angles had salvaged some reward, to having his hopes dashed moments later.

“You never want to lose any game of football but the disappointment is a bit of frustration at certain actions within the game,” he said.

“We always knew it was going to be difficult, with a new manager coming in. The stadium was always going to be boisterous. We added far too much fuel to that fire and in the first 20 minutes with the way we played.

“We were loose compared to what we have been in recent games, but the players kept going.

“I thought we were the better team in the second half. We dug in and had moments, Joe (Whitworth) was outstanding with some great saves when we needed him.

“When the equalizer goes in, I’m thinking ‘we might win this’. But we made some poor, naive actions that allowed them to get a flurry of corners and there were some great deliveries.

“Obviously they’re much bigger and more experienced than we are. And we can’t see the game out, so we have to learn from it.

“The young players at the end of the game that we have to support and give them that understanding of what’s needed at that moment and we’ll do that in the coming weeks.

“That’s football. It’s an emotional game. We have to manage those emotions as players and staff and as a team. It’s a learning curve we have to go through.”