Blackpool Men’s 3rds 1 – 6 Leyland and Chorley Men’s 3rds
Blackpool 3rd team arrived for their first home game of the season with a full team and high hopes of a first win. They started off on the front foot and dominated possession during the first quarter of the game whilst struggling to create many clear cut openings against a well organised Leyland and Chorley defence. The closest they came was a well worked short corner that brought a smart save from a James Smith shot from the visiting goalkeeper.
Then after 20 minutes, disaster! From almost their first foray into Blackpool’s D, the ball broke to a Leyland and Chorley forward who finished with a smart strike into the bottom corner of the goal. Unfortunately this pattern was to be repeated twice more before half time resulting in the visitors going into the break 3-0 ahead.
The half time team talk focused on being positive, continuing doing things that had worked well in the first half and remembering that last week Blackpool also trailed 3-0 at the break only to almost pull off an unlikely draw in the second half.
Blackpool started the second half brightly penning Leyland and Chorley back in their own half. 10 minutes into the second half Harrison Cardwell picked the ball up in midfield and used his pace to drive past his marker to the by-line before pulling back for Keiffer Walker-Earnshaw to place past the keeper into the goal. Blackpool pressed forwards in search of more goals and came close as a Phil Weir short corner strike found its way past the goalkeeper before being cleared off the line. However, shortly after, another well worked Leyland and Chorley counter attack resulted in another goal for the visitors.
In desperation a tiring Blackpool pushed forward in search of more goals to get back into the game but this only resulted in a lack of numbers at the back resulting in 2 more goals for the visitors. Final Score – Blackpool 1 Leyland and Chorley 6 and Blackpool left wondering how they had managed to succumb to such a heavy defeat in a game where they had the majority of the play.
Blackpool’s man of the match was Keiffer Walker-Earnshaw for some tireless running up front and a well taken goal.