Caretaker boss Ian Dawes insisted his Tranmere side are a “joy to watch” after he witnessed them dismantle struggling Grimsby 5-0 to move to within two points of the Sky Bet League Two play-off places.

Rovers raced into a four-goal lead inside 34 minutes thanks to a James Vaughan brace and goals from Peter Clarke and Otis Khan.

Substitute Paul Lewis completed the scoring five minutes from time to make it three league wins on the bounce and five unbeaten in all competitions since the sacking of Mike Jackson.

Dawes said: “It was a superb performance from the word go. Even leading into it, the confidence was high going into the game – we were expecting to win.

“We were a joy to watch today. We were exciting on the counter and every time we attacked we looked like we were going to score.

“It was a great performance with and without the ball. We pressed high to win the ball back and the lads were excellent today.

“Player to player, we were outstanding and it is hard to pick an individual out from the starting XI and the four substitutes.

“It was everything you want from a performance. The lads have only played the system for three weeks and they’ve adapted and taken the information in.

“If you look through our team so many are capable of scoring goal and the attitude and application has been unbelievable.

“We’ve got lads desperate to play in this exciting team and we have a big, healthy competition for places.”

Grimsby never got going in the game and were out of sight inside half an hour, with the defeat leaving them just four points outside the League Two trap door having conceded 14 goals in four games in all competitions.

Manager Ian Holloway said: “I can’t defend that in any way, shape or form.

“I asked them to be first to everything and I don’t think we were at all.

“On top of that we gave the ball away left, right and centre. I was not expecting that at all. We were absolutely appalling.

“Life is about confidence, having it and gaining it – but you’ve got to earn it and keep driving and nobody did their job today.

“I’ve never seen such a bad performance individually.

“People have asked me, what do I say to the upset fans and I don’t know what to say.

“This is my livelihood. I’ve moved house here to build a team and I’ve asked them to get a foot in to the ball – like my Dad used to tell me to do when I had no confidence – but we didn’t do that, we were second to everything.”