Preston North End U19s took all three points from an astonishing 11-goal thriller against Accrington Stanley.
Goals from Josh Seary, Kian Best, Ellis Horan, Izac Khan and a brace from Kacper Pasiek led the Lilywhites to a 6-5 win at Accrington Stanley Sports Hub.
The first 15 minutes of the game saw PNE go 2-0 down, following a chip over Tommy Davis from Anjola Popoola and an own goal from Seary.
Two goals behind, the Lilywhites pushed to find a breakthrough, but an arm fracture suffered by Kian Taylor – which required surgery – stalled their comeback and forced him off the pitch just shy of the half-hour mark.
With Theo Mawene as his replacement, PNE pressed to find an entry back into the game, and Seary would soon get his redemption, providing a sublime header into the back of Accrington’s net in the 36th minute.
Three minutes later, however, a shot from the right from Brad Kelly found the bottom left corner of Davis’ net, leaving the Lilywhites to play catch-up again.
A big lump of added time at the end of the first half gave Pasiek the time to shine as he scored twice, firstly sending a right-footed volley beyond Oli Riva before then chipping the goalkeeper to send the sides into the break level.
PNE were quick off the mark in the second half and, seven minutes in, Best swung a remarkable free-kick in to the top corner to put North End ahead for the first time in the game.
However, a mistake at the back half an hour later allowed an Accrington breakthrough, and their tap-in made the game level once more.
In true North End style, it took just three minutes for Khan to set Horan up, who chipped the ball over substitute Accrington ‘keeper James Rogerson.
And as if a one-goal lead wasn’t enough, an incredible shot from just inside the box from Khan made it 6-4 as the game reached the 90th minute.
With an extended amount of added-time again inevitable, the 12th minute of that saw Accrington pull one back, but the full-time whistle blew shortly after and Preston North End took all three points back down the M65.
Speaking after the game, coach John Welsh reflected on the result by saying: “It was a strange game with probably two sides to it.
“We played some good stuff at times and scored a lot of goals, but on the flip side we started the game really poorly.
“We conceded five goals so there’s pluses and there’s negatives, and as always we’ll watch the game back and go over it with the lads on Monday.
“We’ll try and get them to see things they’re not doing well and how we can improve on things, and also to praise the things that they’re doing well because again there’s some bits of that performance that they've done well.”
Preston North End U19s now look ahead to their next fixture, which is against Oldham Athletic on Saturday 30th September at Springfields.