Blackpool coach shares loan hope for teenage striker ahead of EFL Trophy opportunity
Blackpool take on Barrow in their opening EFL Trophy game.
A number of young players could be handed an opportunity to feature for the Blackpool first-team this evening.
The Seasiders welcome Barrow to Bloomfield Road in their opening group game of this season’s EFL Trophy - with Nottingham Forest U21s and Tranmere Rovers also to come before December.
In recent years, this competition has provided chances for the club’s youngsters to take part in a competitive senior game, with rotation expected from Steve Bruce.
A number of Blackpool’s U18s players have trained with the first-team at various points, with some even heading out to Spain in the summer for the pre-season camp.
“That’s so important,” stated youth coach Matthew Blinkhorn.
“They may get it through the loans, or they may get it through training, but going into that first-team environment is vital; however, they need to be good enough.
“It’s not just a token gesture to put players in, we want the gaffer to be saying people are ready. Spencer (Knight) and Theo (Upton) have done really well in pre-season, so they may get that opportunity, and if they don’t, no problem, we’ll keep working with them to close that gap.”
Beneficial for Bondo
One player in particular who benefited from the EFL Trophy last season was striker Terry Bondo.
The teenager impressed in the cup games he featured in - which led to him being handed three outings in League One.
In the back end of the 2024/25 campaign, the ex-Oldham Athletic youngster headed out on loan to Matlock Town, with a plan in place to send him out again elsewhere at some point in the next few months.
“Sometimes you don’t have a choice, and you go somewhere where they take you,” Blinkhorn added.
“Terry has credibility because he’s had some opportunities with the first-team and has done well. Hopefully his loan, when it happens, can be a little bit higher, and he can gain more credibility to develop a career for himself where people start to stand up and take a look at him.
“He went to Matlock last year, and scored three in six, so that’s a positive for a young player.”
Goalkeeper heads out
One youth player that has already headed out on loan is goalkeeper Harvey Bardsley.
The 19-year-old, who was among the players who went to Jerez for the first-team pre-season camp, has joined Runcorn Linnets on a one-month loan.
At the weekend, Bardsley was handed his debut for the Northern Premier League Division One West on Saturday afternoon, in a 2-0 victory over Pickering Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup.
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