Young Cod Army fell to narrow defeat on home soil
Fleetwood Town’s youth side succumbed to a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Accrington Stanley on Saturday morning in a scrappy Lancashire derby.A solitary goal close to the hour mark from Jack Hartley was enough to earn Stanley all three points in a frustrating day at Lytham for Craig Madden’s young Cod Army.
Elliot Wynne deputised for Liam Bleeker in goal, while Andrew Smith made his first start since recovering from a recent injury.
It would be the visitors who would create the first chance of the game, when Max Hazeldine was played through on goal only to be denied by Elliot Wynne after six minutes.
Soon after, Wynne was on hand again to keep out the same player, as he used his legs to keep out the Stanley midfielder.
Town’s first real attempt came though Louis Myers, however he glanced his header wide of the post from Michael Tetteh’s cross.
With 20 minutes on the clock, Fleetwood had a penalty shout waved away when Jordan Hancox was brought down when through on goal.
Shortly afterwards, Town midfielder Liam Wood scuffed his long-range effort past the near post of goalkeeper Jack Little.
As the first half drew to a close, Keenan Quansah was the next to test Wynne, who got down well to keep out the winger’s fizzing low effort.
Fleetwood would carve out the first chance of the second half when Myers saw his goal bound effort hacked away by a resilient defence.
At the other end, Wynne had to acrobatically tip the ball over the bar from Jack Hartley’s deflected shot.
However, with 58 minutes played, Accrington would take the lead through an improvised finish from midfielder Hartley.
He connected with a teasing ball from the wing before volleying right footed into the top corner beyond a static Wynne.
In response, Myers’ tame effort was saved by Little, who then had to also come and clear his lines as Town looked to press to find that elusive equaliser.
Fleetwood rallied, but couldn’t break Stanley’s back four down, with Hancox linking up well with Myers before shooting narrowly wide.
Accrington looked to wrap up the three points when Hazeldine’s powerful effort from just inside the penalty area was superbly beaten away by Wynne,
In the final minutes of play, Town throw everything at Accrington’s defence, however despite a scramble in the box, Stanley cleared their lines and claimed all three points.