Accrington Stanley youth were defeated 4-2 by Blackpool youth in a game which could have gone either way at the Store First stadium.
The game exploded into life early on when Stanley goalkeeper Kieran Wolland made a fine save in only the second minute and James Jenkins’ forced Connor Hunt into smart save one minute later.
The visitors took the lead through Dion Charles inside six minutes; George Lomax played a smart reverse ball in-between Keenan Quansah and James Wolfenden to release Charles who slotted the ball past Wolland from close range.
Max Hazeldine drew Stanley level on ten minutes with a stunning strike that left the goalkeeper with no chance. The winger drove at the heart of the Blackpool defence unchallenged before smashing the ball into the top corner.
Jenkins and Hazeldine both failed to convert good chances as the hosts grabbed the game by the scruff of its’ neck.
Jack Hartley was only a lick of paint away from giving the home side the lead when Hunt got the faintest of touches to tip his long range effort onto the crossbar
The game was only 20 minutes old when Jenkins had another two chances but again Hunt stood strong to deny the target man.
Kieran Shau floated a dangerous looking free-kick over the Stanley crossbar, and Dominic Telford shot over from a Charles cross as the visitors began to grow into the game.
Henry Cameron should then have put the Seasiders back in front when he raced through one-one-on, but the inspired Wolland made a terrific save to his right to push it around the post.
However from the resulting corner Blackpool took the ascendancy and Joseph Moulden smashed in as Stanley failed to clear their lines.
Jenkins and Quansah came close before half-time, but it wasn’t until four minutes after the restart when Jenkins finally found the back of the net and levelled proceedings.
The forward flicked on a long ball to Hazeldine, whose initial shot was saved and Jenkins followed it up to tap into an empty net from an acute angle.
On 53 minutes Charles twisted and turned in the Stanley box before burying his shot beyond Wolland to put his side back in the driving seat.
Two minutes later Blackpool doubled their lead through Lomax after great work from Harrison Mcgahey.
Callum Gunner came off the bench and had a header saved by Hunt, and Wolland was forced into a couple of comfortable saves as Blackpool where limited to long range efforts.
In the dying seconds of the game Jenkins was inches away from his second but his header from a Hazeldine cross landed the wrong side of the post.
Report by Mikael McKenzie
