A goal in each half from Keshi Anderson and Gary Madine gave Neil Critchley’s side victory, as North End ended the game with ten men.

Anderson scored on 27 minutes, after a ball in from the left by James Husband, with Madine poking home Jerry Yates’ pass midway through the second half, before skipper Alan Browne was sent off in injury time.

Head coach Frankie McAvoy went with the same starting XI that had defeated Coventry City in midweek and they had the first chance of the game, Ben Whiteman firing an effort on target from 20 yards, goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw spilling it, but getting hold at the second attempt at the feet of Emil Riis.

The hosts’ first opportunity came on the ten-minute mark, as Kenny Dougall fired wide from inside the ‘D’ after the ball ricocheted out to him after a ball in from the right.

Some good play from PNE came mid-way through the half as Browne found Riis through the middle. He took the ball past a defender and then played a short pass right for Daniel Johnson, but there was not enough on it and a tackle came in to block the shot at the Jamaican’s feet.

But the deadlock was broken on 27 minutes as Richard Keogh found Husband with a ball into the left channel, it was played into Anderson 15 yards out, who miss-hit his shot, but it curved inside the bottom left-hand corner by the narrowest of margins.

On the half-hour mark, a Scott Sinclair shot from 25 yards took a slight deflection and Grimshaw claimed at the top left-hand corner, before right on half-time Andrew Hughes had a shot blocked after a long throw from Riis was flicked on by both Patrick Bauer and Sepp van den Berg.

The Lilywhites came out with an intensity after the break and after a brilliant tackle from Josh Earl at one end of the pitch to deny Anderson, PNE then made a superb counter. A break down the right saw Riis play the ball across to Ben Whiteman, 18 yards out, who struck the ball first time and it flew past Grimshaw, but inches wide of the left-hand post.

Soon after there was a strong penalty shout on Alan Browne, after a long throw from Riis caused havoc in the box and Browne was flattened by Jordan Gabriel, but referee Tim Robinson saw nothing as Gabriel needed treatment.

Just after the hour mark Tom Barkhuizen and Sean Maguire replaced Johnson and Earl and they were a threat straight away, Whiteman almost found Barkhuizen, only for it to be cut out for a corner.

And moments later it was 2-0 as Jerry Yates threaded the ball through and Madine poked home from inside the six-yard box.

North End kept looking for something from the game, and with a quarter of an hour left a ball in from Browne flashed across the face of goal and out for a corner. The cross in from the left was flicked on by Maguire and wide by Sinclair.

In injury time, substitute Callum Connolly’s late challenge on Maguire resulted in a melee, with Browne shown a second yellow card of the afternoon, resulting in the visitors finishing the game with ten men as the Seasiders took the points.

Blackpool line-up: Grimshaw, Husband, Gabriel, Wintle, Yates (Carey, 79), Anderson, Bowler (Mitchell, 80), Dougall (Connolly, 83), Madine, Ekpiteta (c), Keogh. Subs not used: Moore, Dale, Garbutt, Sterling.

PNE line-up: Iversen, Storey, Bauer, Hughes, van den Berg, Whiteman (Potts, 74), Browne (c), Earl (Maguire, 65), Johnson (Barkhizen, 64), Sinclair, Riis. Subs not used: Rudd, Cunningham, Lindsay, Ledson.

Referee: Mr T Robinson

Attendance: 13,946 (2,180 PNE fans)