The first game of the season saw the thirds come up against an evenly matched side, with relatively young players on both teams. Keswick started the game with good commitment, pressing into the Blackpool half on a number of occasions. Blackpool only had 11 players and substitutions would play a part in the game. Shortly after the first of these the deadlock was broken with Connor Howarth putting Keswick in the lead.
Blackpool were not an easy opposition and fought back to level only a few short minutes later from a penalty corner. The match was evenly poised and play was heatedly contested in the midfield. Eventually Keswick gained the upper hand with a well worked break down the right culminating in a decisive dribble to the baseline by George Borley and a superb pullback to David Thomas, who slotted the ball home for 2-1.
Keswick continued to press and the Blackpool keeper was put under increasing pressure. This eventually told with the ball taking a nasty deflection and the keeper hitting the ball back into his own goal for 3-1 at halftime.
The second half was again evenly contested and the next goal would be likely to prove pivotal to the eventual outcome. Luckily this was to be Keswick’s day with Paul Heap able to connect with a long through ball from James Hadfield and take the score to 4-1. With 25 minutes still to play Keswick attempted to close out the match. Blackpool were not beaten yet and scored what was to be a consolation goal toward the end. The final score 4-2 to Keswick.