A STRONG Seasiders side marked the hottest day of the year so-far with their first match of the pre-season at Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night.

Accrington started brighter, with Lutel James and Rory Prendergast causing all kinds of problems for Simon Grayson on the right side of Blackpool's defence.

After just seven minutes, last year' Unibond League champions opened the scoring, with Paul Mullin knocking the ball into an empty net after Phil Barnes could only parry an effort from James.

Grayson was taken off after half an hour, with Jamie Burns brought on at left-back and Leam Richardson moved to his favoured right-back slot.

That settled the Seasiders who, shortly afterwards, equalised with a moment of individual skill from Danny Coid, a 20-yard effort finding the top right-hand corner of the net.

The second half threatened to descend into farce as a constant stream of Accrington substitutes joined the fray -- many of them exchanging shirts with players who had started the game. They were also forced to substitute one midfielder for an unpleasant foul on the lively Martin Bullock.

Blackpool made a more modest set of changes, Denny Herzig, Scott Taylor and Richard Walker all coming on at the break. Teenagers Herzig and Burns worked hard and looked like players who could put up a good fight for first team places in the coming months, while Matthew Blinkhorn, who went off at half time only to re-appear in the closing stages, also gave a good account of himself. Taylor worked hard, but always looked more comfortable cutting in rather than sticking to the left wing.

The winner came midway through the half when Bullock, Blackpool's most dangerous player on the night, waltzed into the penalty area, only to be hacked down when he looked certain to score.

Walker converted the spot kick well to stake his claim to be the Seasiders new penalty taker after John Hills left for Gillingham. However, the former Aston Villa man must first win a regular place in the first team. Triallist, Stephen McNulty, joined Chris Clarke in a re-shaped central defence halfway through the second half. The former Liverpool under-19s captain didn't do much wrong, though it was difficult to make a judgement against a Stanley side who had run out of steam.

* Tommy Jaszczun and Kirk Hilton are expected to be fit for the trip to the Isle of Man despite missing Tuesday night's game with injury.

* The Seasiders' new home kit, with the logo of new sponsors, Life Repair Group, is on sale at the club shop. The first delivery of the black away shirt is expected to follow shortly.

* Former Seasiders striker, Paul Dalglish, is on trial with Irish side, Linfield, while his former team-mate, Ben Thornley, is training with Bury, under another ex-Blackpool man, Andy Preece.