Fylde coast hockey review: Blackpool, Lytham St Annes, Garstang

In a scrappy affair, both sides struggled to find a decisive final pass in the first half.

Simon Thomas converted both Blackpool goals as he was first to react to a second ball at two penalty corners.

Rob Dingle was denied by the crossbar and a series of excellent saves from the Wigan goalkeeper.

Blackpool began the second half well but their dominance wasn’t converted into goals until Dave Morgan finished from a narrow angle from Dingle’s through-ball.

At 3-1 Blackpool should have put the game to bed but their chances for promotion from North West division one suffered a major setback in those closing stages.

Possession was repeatedly conceded and the defence was unable to deal with Wigan’s corners.

The final goal went in with less than two minutes to play and Wigan deserved their win.

Blackpool 2 were 3-2 winners over University of Liverpool 2 at Stanley Park after applying plenty of early pressure.

Will Pickles opened the scoring from a fine first-time pass by Chris Hocking.

The visitors reacted strongly and were level by half-time despite some heroic Blackpool defence.

A passionate second half saw some over-physical challenges and Adam George received a card.

Blackpool couldn’t make their shooting chances count until Keiffer Earnshaw fired them back into the lead.

Liverpool equalised again but Blackpool still had the determination to win it.

Earnshaw’s second sealed the points with virtually the last hit of the game, lifting his side to fourth in North West four north.

n Lytham St Annes Men couldn’t make the breakthrough they needed in the first half against Winnington Park and eventuallylost their North West Two clash at AKS 2-0.

Lytham had opportunities, with young Will Dowbiggin trying his hand at drag flicking, but his attempts were saved.

Winnington were shown seven cards in the game but still LSA struggled to take advantage with their lack of substitutes.

Defender Andy Taylor was the man of the match for Lytham.

There were narrow defeats for LSA 2, 3-2 away to Bolton 2, and LSA 3, 4-3 at home to Rochdale 2.

This was a tight game at AKS, where Rochdale scored the only goal of the half.

LSA equalised early in the second half through Mike Baker but Rochdale regained the lead within a minute.

Simon Trickett levelled it up for the second time but then Rochdale scored twice to settle the issue.

There were still 15 minutes left but LSA had to wait until the last minute for Aaron Gee to pull one back.

Lytham Ladies were edged out 4-3 at Lancaster, despite a stirring fightback in this North division two contest.

The hosts dominated the early exchanges and Lytham had to stand firm in the face of numerous shots.

It wasn’t long before Lytham found themselves 2-0 down but they hit back in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Lytham’s passing became sharper and Georgina Read pulled one back when she nailed a shot from a penalty corner.

Starting the second half 2-1 down, Lytham began purposefully and made some strong runs but they left Lancaster enough space to score two more goals.

Lytham continued to show great resolve and fought to the end, Hazel Cockerill’s great run resulting in a ball across the D which Gilly Shields met by lifting a first-time shot into the net.

The deficit was cut to one when Jenni Rawlinson battled through at close range and beat the keeper on the line.

The last few minutes were all Lytham as they battled for the equaliser but were denied by the final whistle.

Lytham 2 climbed off the bottom of North Division One with their second win, 3-1 away to Pendle Forest 3.

They started strongly and most of the early play was in the Pendle half.

One of several penalty corners resulted in a penalty flick from which Jasmine Wright stepped up to the plate and opened the scoring.

Lytham continued to dominate the first half, with some excellent passing involving the whole team.

There were times when the defence had to do some work but Lauren Lockhart just wasn’t letting any shots in and Lytham held their lead until half-time.

Pendle came back stronger in the second half as Charlotte Gallagher, Ella Martin , Camilla Dunlop and Becky Evans worked hard in defence.

Pendle managed to equalised but this only spurred Lytham on. They forced a series of short corners and Heidi Pearson was perfectly positioned on the post to restore their lead.

Pendle struggled to respond again and Lytham continued to attack. Another short corner resulted in captain Camilla Dunlop finishing in style to complete a well-deserved win.

Witton Warriors had a 4-1 home win over Blackpool Ladies to leapfrog them in Lancashire Central division one.

Blackpool’s Sandra Wood made some good saves but couldn’t prevent the hosts going in front.

Debs Hilier was strong at the back and scored the equaliser before half-time from a penalty corner, set up by Gemma Prestwich.

Witton came out fighting for the second half and immediately restored their lead, adding two more goals to take a grip on the game.

Emma Gilfoyle went close as Blackpool refused to give up but the home side were well organised.

Hilier was player of the match, though Gilfoyle, Prestwich and Amy Barrow were all outstanding

Garstang Ladies 4 picked up their first point and clean sheet of the season with a 0-0 draw against Lancaster.

Garstang repeatedly found their way into the Lancaster D only to be thwarted by the keeper.

The second half was a similar story as Garstang couldn’t break through but they would certainly have settled for a point against the team placed third in the league.