A youthful Preston North End reserve side earned a point against Fleetwood Town in the Central League thanks to an Ellis Horan strike.

The Cod Army took the lead inside six minutes through one of their many trialists on show, before Horan equalised halfway through the first period with a good hit from the edge of the box.

North End had chances to win the game through the likes of U16 players Dylan Gairns and Max Wilson, but the points ended up being shared.

After a promising start from North End, it was actually the visitors who took the lead through a trialist, who beat James Pradic with a low effort towards the far corner.

There wasn’t too much goalmouth action in the next stages of the game, before the Lilywhites were clinical with a good team move on 24 minutes. Centre forward Gairns did well to hold the ball up at the top end of the pitch before playing it into the path of Ethan Eccleston, whose cross was directed into the path of Horan by Izac Khan, and the midfielder finished well into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

At the other end, the visitors had some decent half chances, the first of which was saved by Pradic, while Tom Hoyle headed over at the back post.

North End could have gone ahead themselves on 35 minutes when Gairns cleverly held off his man and let the ball run across his body, before laying back to Max Wilson who couldn’t quite make the contact he wanted.

Right before the break, PNE attacked with real pace through goalscorer Horan and he carried the ball almost the length of the pitch before laying off for Kacper Pasiek, who saw a driven strike saved by goalkeeper Stephen McMullan.

The same man then tried his luck again shortly into the second half, sending another powerful shot just wide of goal this time.

Pradic produced a smart stop a few minutes later when Trialist A was allowed the room to cut inside and take aim, but the goalkeeper was equal to it.

The rest of the second half saw both sides having a go without creating any real clear-cut opportunities to find a winner, although North End did have the woodwork to thank when substitute Mikey Lane’s close-range effort bounced out off the post.

Lane then had a huge chance with the very last kick of the game, but he couldn’t convert from six yards and the points were shared.

PNE line-up: Pradic; Wallbank, Taylor, McGhee; Eccleston (T.Mawene, 89), Kamara, Horan, Pasiek (Brindle, 62); Wilson, Khan; Gairns. Subs not used: Davis, Critchley, Stringfellow.

Fleetwood Town line-up: McMullan; Trialist A, Hoyle, Trialist B (Trialist E, 45), Jones (Wallace, 65); Wilson (Trialist F, 65), Thompson, White; Edwards (Lane, 75), Trialist D, Trialist C. Subs not used: Cragg, Trialist E.