Wanderers’ B Team suffered a narrow defeat on Tuesday afternoon against Blackpool in the Central League at Lostock.
Despite having the better of the ball and the most clear cut chances, two first half goals from the visitors were enough to edge out Andy Taylor’s side who just ran out of time in the end.
David Abimbola halved the deficit for Wanderers with ten minutes to go but the Whites couldn’t find the elusive equaliser in the closing stages.
Contrary to the scoreline going into the break, Wanderers largely dominated the first half. Daeshon Lawrence latched onto a short pass back and had just the keeper to beat but Chapman stood tall to deny the striker.
In the tenth minute, Conor Lewis advanced into the box and drove a shot low and hard but Chapman gathered it into his chest safely.
All of the play was in and around the Blackpool box with a series of crosses not coming to fruition for Wanderers. Most notably, Matthew Tweedley worked the ball out to Sam Inwood in space who played the ball across the six yard but no white shirt was there to meet it.
Against the run of play, the Tangerines got their noses in front with a clinical move. Francis burst down the right wing with his pace and delivered a cross right onto the head of Emmerson who planted his header into the ground and into the back of the net beyond Dallimore.
Andy Taylor’s side nearly responded instantly when Tweedley’s cross fell to the feet of Lewis but he didn’t get the required connection and sliced his effort wide.
Just after the half hour mark, Blackpool doubled their lead. Emmerson ran on to a perfectly weighted pass in behind the Wanderers defence before slotting beneath the onrushing Dallimore and into the bottom corner.
Again, Wanderers got straight back onto the front foot. Wes Frimpong found space on the right before crossing onto the foot of Lawrence who volleyed first time but Chapman reacted sharply down to his right to keep him out.
The second half was quieter in terms of goal mouth action with Blackpool keeping their shape well to maintain their two goal cushion.
Tweedley again was creating for Wanderers and this time found the head of Gio Loureiro but the forward couldn’t keep his head down and on target inside the box.
Wanderers kept the pressure on throughout the half, and it eventually told on the 80th minute. U18's striker David Abimbola broke the offside trap and kept his cool to curl his effort into the bottom left corner of the goal to give Andy Taylor’s side impetus in the remaining ten minutes.
Sticking to their playing principles, Wanderers remained patient and carved out a last gasp opportunity to equalise and were inches away from doing so. Patient play across the box led to Westwood meeting the ball at the far post but his low shot clipped the outside of the post, much to Blackpool’s relief.
Andy Taylor and his staff will have plenty of positives to take from the performance at Lostock with several U18s players stepping into the B Team and the overall team performance deserving more out of the fixture.
Wanderers B Team are next in action on 19th March at home to Barrow in the Central League.
Wanderers: Dallimore, Frimpong, Halford, Trialist (Toole 65’), Hayes-Green (Westwood 55’), Inwood, Sharples-Ahmed, Tweedley, Lewis (Fleury 80’), Louriero (Abimbola 73’), Lawrence (Sithole 55’)