Southampton v Preston North End
Coca-Cola Championship
Saturday 22nd December, 3pm kick-off
FINAL SCORE: Southampton 0 PNE 1
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90 + 3 mins - The full time whistle blows. What a fantastic victory by the lads. Everyone worked their hearts out in what can only be described as a superb result! 'Merry Christmas' by Slade booms out of the tannoy, I know for sure this is certainly going to make the festive period that little bit better for the PNE supporters!
90 + 1 min - Kevin Nicholls is brought on for Paul Gallagher. There is to be three minutes of stoppage time.
90 mins - Goal for PNE! Lewis Neal steaming in at the far post converts a pinpoint Pat Agyemang cross. Get in, what a superb finish from the substitute!
88 mins - Lonergan produces a world class save to keep the score at 0-0. Rasiak, who looked miles offside, found himself in acres of space inside the six-yard box but his header was somehow palmed away by the North End stopper. A miraculous save.
85 mins - You can see North End's game plan of trying to use Agyemang's pace. SInce he has come on he has looked extremely dangerous playing on the shoulder of the last defender but unfortunately the killer slide rule pass has not yet been asserted.
84 mins - Paul Gallagher's cute ball across the goal causes all sorts of problems for Southampton's defence but luckily from their point of view, Wright gets there just before Lewis Neal to turn it behind for yet another corner.
82 mins - Rasiak is on for Stern John in attack.
80 mins - 2,000 kids have been allowed in free today and you can hear them all making a right noise, banging on their seats. Whether that is in boredom or frustration, who knows?
79 mins - Lewis Neal replaces the hardworking Chris Sedgwick who has put in yet another good shift.
75 mins - It's absolute chaos in the PNE box but the lads hold firm. Firstly Carts spooned a clearance striaght up in the area before Matt Hill let the ball bounce and almost paid the penalty
71 mins - Apologies for the lack of reporting over the last five minutes. Out of nowhere, I was struck with a painful bout of cramp in my left hamstring and was forced to go for a brief venture out of the press box. Luckily it was a rare quiet spell with the only news to report that Pat Agyemang has been brought on for Neil Mellor.
66 mins - Bradley Wright Phillips is replaced by Marek Saganowski in George Burley's first change of the day.
64 mins - Kelvin Davis drops the ball with no one around him from Darren Carter's corner. Unfortunately there is no PNE player about and it is hacked clear by the scrambling Southampton defence.
61 mins - It's Southampton's turn to attack this time, Hammill drifting in off his right hand flank before hitting an effort on goal. Lonergan holds again, credit must go to PNE's number one because he's dealt with everything thrown at him so far.
57 mins - What a screamer by Darren Carter. I can't keep up here! His long distance effort smashes against the right hand post, I don't know how it came about because I was too busy writing up the previous goal attempt! Either way if his 25 yard thunderbolt had gone in, it would have been a contender for goal of the month.
54 mins - What's he doing shooting from there! Euell tries one from all of 35 yards, credit must go to the man though as it was on target, Lonergan holding comfortably.
52 mins - End to end stuff as firstly Kelvin Davies holds a Paul Gallagher daisy cutter before Southampton counter attack with Stern John, whose curler is just a few feet over the bar.
49 mins - Billy Jones throws himself in the way of a thunderbolt of an effort from Stern John. He is very brave not to rub it, that's for sure.
48 mins - It's Sedgwick again causing problems as he turns the defender inside out before flicking a little pass up to Paul Gallagher. The Blackburn loanee smashes a shot in from a tight angle that hits the side netting, much to the frustrationof the travelling support who were out of seats thinking he had scored.
47 mins - The 'Sedgy shuffle' fools Skacel and the winger delivers a cross just behind the on-rushing Simon Whaley.
16.00 - I'm back off Whites World duty so apologies for the lack of updates through the half time interval
45 + 2 mins - Half time, job done so far for PNE
45 mins - Hammill tries a left footed curler from distance, it's off target though and fails to trouble Lonergan.
41 mins - It's a good job Jason Euell got his head to Darren Carter's free kick or else it certainly would be 1-0 for PNE. Mells wouldn't have missed from four yards but thankfully enough for the home supporters, his contact was enough to divert it away for a corner. Carter's delivery is looking exceptionally dangerous today.
37 mins - What a tackle by Matty Hill! After Callum Davidson loses the ball in midfield, Euell gallops away taking the ball unchallenged 10-15 yards forward. The midfielder plays the ball to Bradley Wright-Phillips but just as he is about to unleash, PNE's left-back dives in, as brave as a gladiator, to divert it away for a corner.
34 mins - Gally tries to whip a free kick in from the edge of the area. It hits the wall, suspiciously it looked like hands, but the appeals don't sway the referee's decision.
27 mins - Sedge could and perhaps should have put PNE into the lead. The right-winger's sliced finish ends up in the Southampton home fans instead of the net after he is presented a chance 10 yards from goal when the Saints half clear a Darren Carter corner.
25 mins - Swift attack by Southampton as Hammill sprints down the right, his cross is met by a flicked finish from Wright-Phillips but he catches too much on it and it glances a few yards wide of the far post.
20 mins - Great commitment from Mellor who refuses to give in when the ball looked like it was going dead for a goal kick. Andrew Davies tried to usher it out but Mellor dived in, and although he went straight through the back of him, he let him know he was about.
18 mins - Just at the worst possible moment, Surman slips just as he is to pull the trigger 12 yards out. It stemmed from a brisk counter attack from the home down the left flank.
15 mins - Gally and Mells link up just outside the box but the former Liverpool man is off balance and his effort spurns away for a goal kick.
14 mins - A sniff of a chance for North End as Darren Carter's inswing delivery form 40 yards bounces just inside the six yard box. It almost lands at the feet of St Ledger and Chilvers, who have both come up, but it is smashed away by Jermaine Wright for PNE's first corner kick of the game.
10 mins - Absolute chaos in the North End back line! Matt Hill's clearance is charged down and it is a three way race between Hammill, Lonergan and St Ledger. Ledge is the first there to scramble it behind for a throw in but Lonners slips about 25 yards out, though luckily nothing comes of it.
8 mins - Andy Hammill tries his luck from distance but it's relatively weak and Lonergan palms it wide for another corner kick.
6 mins - First corner of the game goes the home side's way. Jason Euell's delivery clips Matt Hill, but Andy Lonergan diving to his left fails to keep it in play.
4 mins - Not much in the way of early action. It's a bit end to end with long balls aplenty.
15.00 - Wright-Phillips and Stern John Start the game for the Saints.
14.57 - Multi ball system is in use at today's game. Players had better be aware and not get caught waiting for the crowd to return the ball
14.55 - Something I've never seen at a football ground before. The Southampton players are on the big screen singing their own versions of Christmas carols. Let's hope they are silenced by the Lilywhites today!
14.50 - A real festive feel around St Mary's today. Supporters have got their Father Christmas hats on, the brass band playing and there's even a giant Santa wandering about the ground!
14.24 - North End have donned their yellow away strip today, which is only a bargain at £5 in the club shop. We all know what happened last week when the players played in that coloured kit!
14.15 - The teams are confirmed and North End's bench consists of Chris Neal, Lewis Neal, Pat Agyemang, Kevin Nicholls and Karl Hawley. Bradley Wright-Phillips and Stern John spearhead the Saints attack.
14.11 - Some squealing children are singing 'When the saints go marching in' over the tannoy. Get them off the microphone now! They are deafening everybody in the ground.
14.10 - As expected, Paul McKenna has not recovered in time to take his place in the North End squad for today so Darren Carter comes into the starting XI. We have yet to receive details of Southampton's starting line up or Preston's substitutes.
13.56 - Just to confirm, as it stands the game is on. If there are any further developments, you will be first to hear here on PNE.Com
13.54 - LEP reporter Brian Ellis has been asked for his opinion of PNE's start the season in an article for Southampton's match programme. I don't know who sent the picture in of him but it's not doing him any favours as it looks like it was taken back in 1988. Did you used to wear eye liner then Bri? And the tie is absolutely shocking!
13.48 - All is quiet around the stadium as both sets of coaches, match officials and even the brass band have retreated to the warmth of the concourses and dressing rooms.
13.45 - Rob Kelly and Dave Timmins have set out their cones for the warm-up drill. Surely that is a good sign...
13.41 - There's a bit of nervous tension about as the players, staff, media and supporters await the decision. The turnstiles have just opened and an odd scattering of fans have taken their seats.
13.39 - Rob Kelly has been pointing to the sky. Maybe he is asking for a bit of luck from the Gods!
13.37 - A postponement would just about cap off the squad's nightmare journey down to Southampton. Yesterday their flight was forced to turn back to Manchester after dense fog at Southampton airport meant the plane was unable to land. The squad finally arrived at their hotel just shy of midnight after they finally got to their destination by coach. Not a good omen
13.35 - Alan Irvine, Rob Kelly and a few of the PNE players have just appeared from the tunnel. They are all having a look at the pitch, whilst Simon Whaley is having a good read of the match programme.
13.29 - Hello and welcome to PNE.Com's minute by minute service of today's events at St Mary's. For starters, there has been a pitch inspection and there is still a doubt to whether the game will be played to due to frozen patches on the surface. Match officials have been out and about and so has George Burley, but as of yet there is nothing confirmed either way.
Southampton: Davis, Skacel, Bennett, Davies, Wright, Surman, Safri, Hammill, Euell, Wright-Phillips (Saganowski 66), John (Subs: Bialkowski, Viafara, Rasiak, Thomas)
PNE: Lonergan, Hill, Chilvers, St Ledger, Jones, Whaley, Davidson, Carter, Sedgwick (Lewis Neal 79) , Gallagher, Mellor (Agyemang 69) (Subs: Chris Neal, , Nicholls, Agyemang, Hawley)
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards:
Attendance: 23,267
