Preston North End U18s fought to a 2-1 against Fleetwood Town in the North West Youth Alliance at Springfields.
get the result that we want.”“They’ve got some decent players and they play decent football, and they’re a threat from set pieces as we have seen. As long as we do the thing that we do best, and approach the game in the right manner, we’ll
“It will be a tough game when they come here again in two weeks,” he said.
The Lilywhites will play Fleetwood again in two weeks’ time in the Northern Section Youth Alliance Cup at Springfields.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take what you learn off the pitch when you’re seeing these videos, and take it over the white line.”
“The disappointment of conceding from a corner is there because we do a lot of work on it on the pitch and off it with video analysis.”
Preston conceded another goal from a corner early on, and Alexander has stressed how important it is for the team’s defending to improve.
“Fleetwood came back at us three times the last time we played them so we knew they were going to be tough opponents, so we had to see off the challenge.”
The former North End player was also pleased with the number of chances his side created, and went on to add: “If we were a bit more clinical, then we would have won the game by more.”
“I have some sympathy with Fleetwood though because I didn’t think it was a free kick in our favour for the initial challenge, so for that I can see why they are upset.”
“It was great thinking from Jack Sowerby for the goal,” he said.“We’ve asked him to get the ball down and take quick free kicks, and it was a great finish from Josh Brownhill.”
Boss Graham Alexander praised Sowerby for his role in the winning goal after the match, and claimed the best team won.
Both sides pushed to find one last goal, but neither could apply the finishing touch in an exciting end to the match.
Fleetwood protested that the free kick should have been given in their direction as it appeared that Sowerby climbed over the back of Town’s Michael Smith.
The goal eventually arrived in the 59th minute thanks to some quick thinking by Sowerby, who was able to feed Brownhill through on goal with a quick free kick, before the winger fired home at the keepers near post.
North End then went on to rattle the crossbar as Livesley held off Cartwright’s challenge in the Fleetwood area before firing his effort onto the woodwork.
Matty Greenwood’s cross from the left found Sowerby at the far post whose effort was cleared of the line by the visitors defence.
The home side started the second half where they left off the first and almost went ahead within seconds of the restart.
Preston’s number nine was unable to convert his spot kick though as Martin reached down to make a decent save.
North End’s pressure earned them a penalty in first half injury time as Zibaka beat the Fleetwood keeper to the ball in the area before being tripped over.
The Lilywhites almost took the lead two minutes later as an acrobatic effort by Brownhill forced a reaction save from Fleetwood keeper Oliver Martin.
Zibaka was able to bring Preston level moments later though, as another cross from Livesley on the right fell to the Camden striker for a near post tap in.
North End should have drew level on the half hour mark as Sam Livesley broke down the right before pulling the ball back for Jack Sowerby, who fluffed his chance with just the keeper to beat in acres of space.
Fleetwood Captain Richard Wright floated a corner towards Max Cartwright on the penalty spot, and the Town defender fired a free header past Preston keeper Steve James.
Jack Sowerby pulled all the strings in Preston’s midfield early on, but it was the visitors that took the lead in the 22nd minute.
The Lilywhites started strongly and had the first real opening as David Kuba Kuba’s right-wing cross was headed over by Zibaka.
Goals by Brandon Zibaka and Josh Brownhill secured the points as North End also missed a first half penalty.