Blackpool FC: Mick McCarthy explains his captaincy and team selection decisions for the Stoke game

The defender wore the armband in the 1-0 victory at Bloomfield Road, taking over the duty from Chris Maxwell.

McCarthy states he’s been pleased with the reaction of everyone involved in the decision.

“Maxy (Chris Maxwell) was superb,” he said.

“I gave the captaincy to Callum (Connolly), and it wasn’t like I relieved him for any other reason than I don’t like goalkeepers being captain because I don’t think they can affect the game as much as an outfield player.

“Callum has been brilliant by the way.

“He’s been outstanding and deserves the captaincy.

“I said to Maxy, if you can play like that without the armband on then what the bloody hell have you got it on for, because he’s just been outstanding.

“He wasn't going to agree with me, and I didn’t expect him to, but I loved the way he reacted to it.

“He didn’t like my decision but respected it.”

McCarthy made four changes to his starting line-up for the game.

“Ian (Poveda) did well on Wednesday night, but I don’t think some of the game was for him,” he added.

“I thought Morgan Rogers started the game really well too.

“They’ve not had a lot of games so they were always going to run out of energy.

“It wasn’t a difficult team to pick.

“I thought it was good to give some of the other lads a bit of rest.

“CJ (Hamilton) has been really good, and Josh (Bowler) has done well, but we’ve got other players we can use.

“We’ve had some who have had too many games.

“We lost Jordan Thorniley to a tight hamstring from Wednesday night, so you’ve got to look after them.”