IN a hard-fought Times FA Youth Cup first round game at Bloomfield Road on Monday (Oct 25), Blackpool defeated Stocksbridge Park Steels FC of Sheffield 2-0.

The Steels were the first to show and it was only some splendid goalkeeping from Daniel Robinson that enabled Blackpool to keep a clean sheet.

A flurry of activity around the half hour saw Robinson thwart a threatening dribble from Ryan and then make an excellent point blank save from Sampson from the rebound.

Blackpool replied with a solo run from Darren Connell which ended in his shot from the right-hand corner of the penalty box being well saved by Glover.

Blackpool's classy Rickie Lambert then rattled the crossbar at the other end as Glover tipped his shot onto the bar and over.

A goalmouth scramble from the ensuing corner looked as though Blackpool would open the scoring but a free kick to the Steels relieved the pressure.

And at half-time it was still scoreless.

Blackpool piled on the pressure in the second half and after Connell had hit the bar following good work by Mark Fahey down the left, full back Marc Smyth opened the scoring for the Seasiders.

He received the ball wide on the right, cut inside and with a low drive from the edge of the box through a crowd of players beat the unsighted Glover to register his first goal for the club.

As the game wore on it was all Blackpool with the Steels visibly tiring.

And it was no surprise when with a minute remaining the impressive Gavin Ellison tapped in after a shot by substitute John Carroll had only been partially stopped.

So Blackpool comfortably progressed to the next round.

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