Barnoldswick Town 4 AFC Blackpool 1

BARNOLDSWICK Town recovered from a nervy first-half performance to register their first North West Counties Premier Division win on Tuesday night.

The visitors dominated the early play against a Town side that had Carl Ellerton and James Crorken deputising for skipper Arley Barnes and Harry Thompson who both picked up injuries in Saturday's opening day 4-3 defeat at Congleton.

Goalkeeper Alex Palffy was kept busy as Blackpool pressured the home defence. Twice he had to race from his line to save bravely at the feet of Kurt Willoughby and Aaron Fleming.

Jack Hargreaves produced the only efforts of note from Town in the opening 25 minutes as Blackpool continued to dominate.

New striker Joe Gaughan fired a long-range effort wide and Mark Threlfall headed straight at Adam Caunce before Blackpool went ahead in the 41st minute.

Full back Jamie Nay's 30-yard shot deceived Palffy who appeared to dive over the ball as it nestled in the bottom right corner of his goal.

Town responded to the setback with an equaliser in injury time. Jake McEneaney floated a free kick to the near post where the unmarked Shaun Airey glance a header in off the underside of the bar.

The goal clearly gave Town a lift for the second half as they were the ones doing the bulk of the attacking and they went ahead after 53 minutes. Gaughan found space to fire home a swerving shot from a corner.

Hargreaves went close before Town extended their lead. Ellerton played a magnificent pass down the Blackpool left in the 69th minute.

The ball went straight into the path of John Beckwith who raced past the stretched Blackpool defence before shooting across Caunce into the far corner.

Airey had a close-range header blocked on the line before and substitute Ben Gorman went close before Town wrapped up the points.

Threlfall crossed to Gorman who brought the ball under control before scoring into the bottom corner. It rounded off a strong second-half performance which will put Town in good heart for Saturday's tough FA Cup home clash with table-topping Colne.