Tom Ince showed Liverpool what they are missing with two goals for the England Under-21's as they thrashed Sweden at Banks's Stadium.

Ince slotted home from Adam Smith's cross early on before Jonjo Shelvey made amends for a horror miss, with a neat second.

The Blackpool winger followed up after Josh McEachran's penalty miss to double his tally, before Sunderland forward Connor Wickham made it four with a header.

Tom Ince

"We hope he is going to be better than his dad and if he emulates Paul he will have some career," boss Stuart Pearce said of Ince.

"Tom is level-headed and I don't think all the stuff about his move to Liverpool would have affected him.

"He has had about 12 efforts on goal in recent games but failed to score. We didn't want it to become a hang-up for him, so I'm pleased he scored here.

"Tom has lots of common sense and he is mature beyond his years. He has his pop behind him as well to keep him grounded."

The victory was the 12<sup>th in the last 13 games for Pearce's side, and their seventh in succession with clean sheets kept in every game during their winning run.

The 21 year old was linked with moves to both Liverpool and Reading in the January transfer window, but no deal materialised allowing Ince to continue his development with The Tangerines.

Father Paul Ince public stated his son should not leave Bloomfield Road unless he was guaranteed first-team football, amid interest from Liverpool, who signed Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho in the January transfer window.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers said before the transfer window closed: "If Tom stays at Blackpool it doesn't mean he will never come to Liverpool but in this window it looks like it will be a difficult one."

Blackpool caretaker boss Steve Thompson added on Ince, who has scored 16 Championship goals this season: "The way Tom has handled himself has been fantastic. He's got a very experienced head on young shoulders.

"But we can't keep relying on him getting goals. We've got to work on getting people in scoring positions.

"We've got to show this league what we're all about as we've had too many draws."