Barnsley strike late winner at Blackpool but all thoughts with Steve Bruce after family tragedy

Clarke has previously spoken about the death of his own daughter and was keen to send his best wishes to his opposite number.

“First of all, I want to pass on my condolences to Steve Bruce and the family, it’s so sad,” said Clarke.

“I know how hard it is to lose loved ones. Steve is a good man and I wish his family the best.”

On the field, Barnsley led the encounter after Davis Keillor-Dunn’s 28th-minute opener but Blackpool responded with Oliver Casey equalising midway through the first half.

After riding a wave of Blackpool attacks, Barnsley struck a stoppage-time winner with Marc Roberts’ goal delighting Clarke, ensuring his side claimed the three points in dramatic circumstances.

“I think it comes off his shoulder but it was great to see it drop in the back of the net and was a great reward for our away following today, so it was nice to send them home happy,” he said.

“We’ve had nine or 10 days training with them and I was pleased to see a lot of that work we’ve done on the training ground come to fruition in the game.

“We had to ride a wave from Blackpool but our resilience was brilliant and we had a lot of chances in the last 10 minutes and got the control back in the game.”

Blackpool: Tyrer, Lawrence-Gabriel (Pennington 60), Offiah, Casey, Coulson, Apter, Evans, Morgan (Fletcher 83), Embleton (Onomah 61), Joseph, Ballard (Rhodes 60). Unused substitutes: O'Donnell,Carey,Ashworth.

Barnsley: Slonina, Durand de Gevigney, Roberts, Earl, Russell (Craig 67), O'Keeffe, Phillips (Yoganathan 67), Connell, Gent (Pines 90), Humphrys (Jalo 90), Keillor-Dunn. Unused substitutes: Killip, Cotter, Nwakali.

Referee: Paul Howard (London).