Dan Grimshaw starts as Blackpool play out friendly draw against St Mirren in preparation for Birmingham City game

Michael Appleton’s men hosted the SPL outfit at Bloomfield Road this afternoon as part of their ongoing preparations for their return from the World Cup break.

After a month off, the Seasiders’ Championship campaign resumes with a home game against Birmingham City next week.

With that in mind, it was noteworthy that Grimshaw got the nod in goal ahead of Chris Maxwell – but The Gazette understands Maxwell was unavailable for the game while Stuart Moore was the sub keeper.

Maxwell held on to the number one shirt prior to the World Cup break having previously usurped Grimshaw 10 games into the season.

But there had been a growing number of calls from supporters for Grimshaw to reclaim his spot in the Blackpool goal.

Elsewhere, Appleton named a strong side despite some noticeable absentees, namely Marvin Ekpiteta and Jordan Thorniley.

Neither defender was spotted taking part in the recent warm weather training camp in Spain and were missing once again.

Ekpiteta is due to miss Blackpool’s next two games through suspension after receiving his second red card of the season in the 2-1 defeat to Wigan Athletic before the break.

As for Thorniley, he missed the game at the DW Stadium through concussion after taking a powerful shot to the head during the 1-0 defeat to Luton Town.

Lewis Fiorini and Jake Beesley also didn’t feature despite recently returning from injury.

Blackpool XI: Grimshaw, Connolly, Williams, Husband, Thompson, Dougall, Patino, Carey, Lavery, Madine, Yates

Subs used: Lyons, Garbutt, Hamilton, Poveda, Wright