Saturday saw North End’s first defeat of the season on derby day against Blackpool, with the youngsters edged out in a ten-goal thriller at Bamber Bridge’s Sir Tom Finney Stadium.
The entertainment in a thrilling fixture began when North End were awarded a penalty in the fourth minute, which the number nine Kitt Nelson failed to convert.
However, Blackpool’s own number nine Danai Hassan was able to get himself on the scoresheet as he scored the first two goals of the game within the first twenty minutes.
The Lilywhites were able to hit back through Nelson just after the half-hour mark before only taking a further two minutes to equalise in the 33rd minute due to a magnificent shot from Max Wilson.
The drama continued in the second half, as Pool hit back again, regaining the lead from Zack Litter. It didn’t take Wilson long to get his second goal of the game, when he equalised a couple of minutes after Litter’s strike to bring things level again.
It was end-to-end football for almost ten minutes but on the hour mark, the Seasiders were able to put the ball into the back of the net for the fourth time. All hope wasn’t lost for PNE, as captain Kaedyn Kamara kept his side in the game by scoring the eighth goal of the tie.
With only 11 minutes to go, Blackpool were awarded a penalty of their own. Fortunately, for Andy Fensome’s side the ball struck the crossbar keeping the game at 4-4. Although, the home side were able to get the ball in the back of the net with just six minutes of the 90 remaining, due to a finish from Jibran Ahmed.
Approaching the end of the match, Wilson won a penalty for PNE in the third minute of additional time, as he was brought down by Blackpool’s keeper, Matteo Spinelli, who was shown a red card for that challenge.
Luck wasn’t with Nelson though from the penalty spot, and he missed his and North End’s second penalty of the game.
With full-time just around the corner, North End went down to 10 men as Ellis Horan was shown his second yellow of the day. In the seventh minute of added time, Blackpool’s Josh Miles made it six, giving them the two-goal advantage.
Andy Fensome expressed feelings of disappointment following the defeat.
“It was a good game of football if you were a total neutral but it wasn’t a professional game of football, it’s not how we want the game to go. We are disappointed we didn’t take the lead and we conceded two sloppy goals at the start”.
“We gave chances up for fun and that’s not how we defend and that isn’t how we talk or train about defending. We ended up on a 6-4 loss, so I’m disappointed because we gave away a lot of goals today and a lot of chances.
“The boys are always learning whether they win 6-4 or lose 6-4, they are always learning, and it is important that they do learn from games like this. It is a local derby, and it is important to a lot of people and to lose a game like that is not nice”.
Defender Jonny Brindle also gave his view on the game.
He said: “I’m not happy with the goals we conceded today, especially in a derby - it’s bad. Other than today we’ve looked quite good, so there’s a lot to build on”.
“I believe as a unit we need to defend better. Moving on to other games, it’s just about giving opposition less chances and opportunities to score and keeping them out”.
Preston North End: Davis, Wilkinson, Pasiek, Horan, McGhee, Brindle, Eccleston, Kamara, Nelson, Wilson, Khan (Mawene 72).
Subs Not Used: Stowell, Nolan, Goldsmith, Havard.