Blackpool 2-1 Barrow: Seasiders maintain winning start to pre-season with victory against David Dunn's League Two newcomers

The midfielder slotted home seven minutes from time as Neil Critchley’s men won for the third consecutive game.

Jordan Thorniley had earlier given Blackpool the lead on their long-awaited return to Bloomfield Road with a looping header, with what was his first goal in tangerine colours.

But the Seasiders looked as though they were going to be denied after Dior Angus levelled for the League Two newcomers, only for Virtue to strike the decisive blow in the final 10 minutes.

James Husband returned from a slight hamstring complaint to start the game on the bench, while Jamie Devitt - linked with a move away from Bloomfield Road - was involved for the first time in pre-season.

Calum Macdonald, Ben Garrity, Joe Nuttall were all missing, the latter left out after suffering a knock to his knee in the weekend win at Port Vale.

Trialist goalkeeper Alex Fojticek, who has featured at both Southport and Port Vale, was involved in the warm-up but didn’t feature in the game.

Former Seasiders Scott Quigley, Neil Danns and youngster Will McGladdery were all named in Dunn’s Barrow squad.

The early exchanges saw the Seasiders dominate, forcing a few early corners. However, the visitors dealt with them fairly comfortably.

The first clear-cut opening of the afternoon fell the way of the men in tangerine, with Grant Ward the man involved.

It all started from a clever forward ball from Jordan Thorniley, the defender picking out Ward’s run into the Barrow box.

The midfielder took the ball down well on his thigh but couldn’t quite find the target with his powerful shot, arrowing his effort just wide.

Barrow responded with two opportunities of their own, Michael Nottingham doing well to clear Morgan Penfold’s pullback after the away side had sprung the offside trap but Lewis Hardcastle tested Chris Maxwell at his near post with a low free-kick.

At the other end, Pool continued to press and probe their opponents as CJ Hamilton saw a powerful shot well blocked after skipping a couple of challenges on the edge of the box.

A lull in proceedings fullowed, with both sides remaining competitive without ever coming to life in the final third.

Barrow briefly threatened to break the deadlock as Jack Hindle found some space inside the Blackpool area only to drag his shot wide.

At the other end, Hamilton ought to have given the Seasiders the lead after doing superbly to engineer a one-on-one with the keeper only to be denied by a smart save by Joel Dixon.

But there was nothing Dixon could do a minute later to stop Jordan Thorniley from giving Pool the lead, the defender meeting Oliver Sarkic’s corner to loop home a header.

Barrow finished the half strongly and probably ought to have levelled after creating two good openings to do so.

Quigley skipped past a challenge to create an opening for himself inside the box only to see his low shot well blocked before Chris Maxwell raced out of goal in first-half injury time to deny Penfold after Hardcastle had threaded through a clever ball.

Goalscorer Thorniley was replaced at the break by the returning James Husband, but Pool were otherwise unchanged.

Gary Madine wasted a golden chance to double Blackpool’s lead five minutes into the second half when a ricochet fell kindly for him in the Barrow box.

But the striker stalled for time and his eventual shot was blocked before Grant Ward drew a comfortable save from Dixon in the following move.

Just before being replaced as Pool made wholesale changes, Hamilton went close to adding a second as he saw his dipping effort tipped behind after dispossessing the left-back in dangerous territory.

The Seasiders were eventually pegged back in the 72nd minute and, while it was a well-worked effort from a Barrow perspective, Critchley will be disappointed with the manner in how it was conceded.

Substitute Teddy Howe was dispossessed deep into Blackpool’s half, allowing Jason Taylor to cleverly slip in Dior Angus, the forward going on to slip the ball beyond Jack Sims’ despairing dive.

Angus and Barrow almost added a second moments later, but this time Sims did well to parry the forward’s effort away from goal.

Pool’s much-changed side almost restored their lead with 12 minutes remaining when Liam Feeney whipped in a tantalising free-kick that Jamie Devitt headed towards goal, only to see his effort well saved.

The ball dropped for Jerry Yates inside the six-yard box but he couldn’t quite force it over the goalline under close pressure from Barrow’s defenders.

Thankfully Pool weren’t made to regret that miss as they eventually added a second on 83 minutes through Matty Virtue.

The midfielder was found in space by Howe and, with time to settle for picking his spot, Virtue did well to calmly stroke the ball past the onrushing keeper.

Pool had chances to add some gloss to the scoreline late on, with Howe being denied by the keeper after being teed up by Feeney.

But Critchley’s men, who now turn their attention to Saturday’s glamour game against Premier League Everton, had to settle for a 2-1 scoreline for the second game running.

TEAMS

Blackpool XI for first 60 mins: Maxwell, Turton, Nottingham, Thorniley (Husband), Shaw, Robson, Ward, Sarkic, Hamilton, Kaikai, Madine

Blackpool XI for final 30 mins: Sims, Howe, Ekpiteta, Husband, Shaw, Antwi, Virtue, Anderson, Feeney, Devitt, Yates

Barrow: Dixon, J. Jones, Burns, Younger, Smith-Brown, Hindle, Beadling, M Jones, Hardcastle, Penfold, Quigley

Subs: Brown, Brough, Taylor, Hird, Gribbin, Lillis, Burns, Byrom, Angus, Danns, McGladdery, Younger