Ryan Lowe disappointed by Blackpool team selection in Preston North End reserves clash

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe was left frustrated by Blackpool’s team selection in Tuesday’s Central League clash.

The West Lancashire rivals faced off at Springfields, with PNE naming a young reserve side while the Seasiders gave minutes to the likes of Marvin Ekpiteta, Andy Lyons, Dominic Thompson, Jake Beesley, Sonny Carey and others. First-year pros Kian Best, Josh Seary and Noah Mawene featured for Preston along with highly rated first year scholar Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile.

Blackpool summer signing and former Celtic man Karamoko Dembele opened the scoring, before second half goals from Ekpiteta and Dannen Francis secured a 0-3 win for the away side. Preston opted against selecting the likes of Greg Cunningham, Patrick Bauer, Dai Cornell and Ben Woodburn - who have had few first team minutes this year. The Seasiders’ team took the hosts by surprise on the day.

“Yeah, they were strong,” said Lowe, when asked if PNE considered picking senior players too. “I was a bit disappointed, because we had a conversation with them that we were going to play the kids - and they chose to bring senior players. So, that is their problem, not ours. We won’t do that again. I was disappointed with them; how they went about it. I suppose it helped our youngsters, really.

“We wanted to play our youngsters against their youngsters, which would’ve been fair. But, they chose to have their first team players and first team staff there. That is their prerogative, not ours. Our kids probably got more out of it than their pros probably got out of it, because it was a big test for them. So yeah, disappointed in what they did, but that’s Blackpool for you.”