It was a derby day victory for PNE U19s as Kian Taylor’s goal was enough to give the Lilywhites the three points.
Super sub Kian Taylor’s goal in the 72nd minute was enough for North End to walk away with a 1-0 victory on derby day.
Manager Nick Harrison made four changes from the team that lost 2-0 against Accrington Stanley in the Youth Alliance Cup.
Declyn Duggan, Jacob Slater, Finlay Cross-Adair and Kitt Nelson made way for Oliver Lombard, Lewis Coulton, Jacob Holland-Wilkinson and Rio Pemberton.
The game had a real derby feel to it in the opening stages and it was the visitors that had the first big opportunity of the game as a strike from the edge of the area rattled the crossbar.
Only a couple of minutes later North End had a chance of their own. A Levi Lewis corner was fizzed into the box, a goalmouth scramble occurred but the Blackpool defence managed to clear the ball from danger.
Pemberton then had a chance to give North End the lead, but his effort was tipped wide of the post.
North End really started to dominate the game as Holland-Wilkinson played through Mikey O’Neill, whose shot was well blocked.
Another goalmouth scramble occurred from a corner for North End which saw Holland-Wilkinson force a good save from the 'keeper.
North End started the second half on the front foot as Harry Nevin broke down the right and put in a teasing ball for Holland-Wilkinson but his header went over.
The Lilywhites made a double substitution as they looked to take the lead, with Lewis and Green making way and on came Josh Seary and Finlay Cross-Adair.
Midway through the second half North End had their best chance of the game thus far. Holland-Wilkinson’s effort from the edge of the area was deflected wide, the resulting corner saw Nevin glance his header onto the crossbar.
On 67 minutes North End made their final change which saw Teddy Mfuni make way for Kian Taylor.
Just five minutes after coming on Taylor gave North End the lead, fellow substitute Cross-Adair broke down the right fired a ball across the box and Taylor was there to tap home.
With the bookings having already piled up on derby day, things then went from bad to worse for the visitors. Joe Strawn was shown a straight red card for a foul on Coulton.
The bookings continued into the final ten minutes but North End battled hard and managed to hold onto the win and pick up all three points and a clean sheet on derby day.
PNE U19 manager Nick Harrison felt his team “really dominated” the game and was particularly happy with how the substitutes impacted proceedings.
“It was a really good performance, I thought first half we were excellent, we created some really good chances and probably should have been three or four goals up we really dominated.
“I thought Blackpool came out in the second half and made it a lot more difficult for us but we kept going.
“We needed to make a couple of changes which showed the importance of being a sub and coming on and I thought they did that. It was a great little interchange between Cross-Adair and Taylor and it’s a great goal.”
This was just the second clean sheet of the season for PNE U19, and Harrison was really pleased with that, but is looking for more as the season progresses.
“We kept a clean sheet which is pleasing as it’s something we’ve been missing over the last few weeks. We want the players to work hard and stop the opposition players getting chances and I thought we did that well today.
“I thought all the team played their part in this and certainly we want more clean sheets, when you keep clean sheets you only need one goal to win a game.”
PNEU19 Line Up: Lombard, Nevin, Coulton, Leigh, Mfuni (Taylor), Blanchard, Lewis (Seary), O’Neill, Holland-Wilkinson, Pemberton, Green (Cross-Adair).
Unused sub: Duggan.