Fleetwood Town’s Development Squad shared the spoils from their Central League clash against Preston North End on Tuesday afternoon at Springfields.
Matt Lawlor’s side had a dream start to the away clash as, six minutes into the game, they took the lead as one of the six trialists in the squad on the day managed to beat James Pradic in the Preston goal with his low effort towards the far corner.
The game then fell silent until the 24th minute when the Lilywhites were able to bring the game back to level terms when Dylan Gairns held up the ball before playing in Ethan Eccleston, and his cross led to Ellis Horan finishing from the edge of the box.
Before the break, both sides had good chances to retake the lead, with defender Tom Hoyle heading just over from close range before Stephen McMullan pulled off a brilliant save to deny Kacper Pasiek, who tried a driven effort after a box-to-box run.
Three key chances fell in the second half to Lawlor’s side, but they were unable to make the most of them – the first of those came from Trialist A, who was allowed room to cut inside from the right and strike towards goal, but Pradic was on hand to stop it.
Substitute Mikey Lane was there for the final two efforts on goal as he was unlucky with 10 minutes to go when his effort struck the post from close range before he found himself six yards out with seconds to go, but the forward couldn’t convert his chance.
Next up for the Development Squad is another Central League fixture, this time against Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday 19 April, with the kick-off time and venue yet to be confirmed.
Town XI: McMullan (GK), Trialist A, Hoyle, Trialist B (Trialist E 45’), Jones (Wallace 65’), Wilson (Trialist F 65’), Thompson, White, Edwards (Lane 75’), Trialist C, Trialist D.