Hibernian v PNE
Easter Road
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 1st August 3pm kick-off
Final Score: Hibernian 1 PNE 3 (Chaplow og 87; Mellor 47, Brown 69, 81)
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90 mins (1649): The referee opts not to add any time on, and Preston have ended their pre-season campaign with a superb victory. The sides were fairly even in the first half, but PNE's finishing was simply clinical after the break with Brown and Mellor brought into the action. Who gets the nod for next week? That's the beauty of anticipation. You can look forward to finding out what happens next by tuning into our next minute-by-minute a week on Saturday when we play some real stuff against Bristol City. See you there...
89 mins: Wallace's strike from 25 yards hits Stevenson and PNE have a corner.
87 mins: Goal for Hibs! The latest arrival, Gailbraith, sends Bryne flying into space down the right, and though Chaplow tries his damnest to cut out one of those awkward passes between the keeper and the last line of defence, the ball cruelly hits him and sneaks over the line. 3-1
86 mins: Substitution for HIbs - Bamba off, Gailbraith on. Moments later, another sub, Kurtis Byrne, heads over the top from Riordan's left wing cross.
84 mins: PNE close to a fourth, Brown plays in Mellor who rounds the stranded Ma-Kalambay, but the angle is too acute to shoot, so he tries to square for Carter. The substitute midfielder likewise ends up unable to strike from a conducive angle, so a lay off to Nicholson looks like sealing the deal, but his fizzer from the edge of the area ends up connecting with the wrong part of the side netting.
82 mins: Double substitution for Hibs - off go Nish and Rankin, on come Stevenson and Byrne.
81 mins: Goal for PNE! Simple but effective stuff for our third, and very easy on the guy. Nicholson enjoys a bit of room to roam in his new wide role, and a lovely cross from the right is met firmly by Brown's forehead, and he'll be even happier with that goal - a genuine centre forward's strike. 3-0
79 mins: Substitution for PNE - our last change as Trotman comes on for Chilvers.
75 mins: Hart and Lonergan look as though they fancy joining the slightly happier PNE fans as they wonder over towards the away end for their warm down.
74 mins: The home crowd seem pretty silenced with Preston on top of this game.
72 mins: Rankin's shot rolls harmlessly past Henderson's far post.
69 mins: Goal for PNE! Mellor gets round the back and squares for Brown, but he misses his kick with the goal at his mercy. Wallace cuts the ball back to Davidson who tries his luck with a drive, and finds that luck is on his team's side as Brown gets an ankle to the ball to deflect it past a wrong-footed Ma-Kalambay. Brown turns and shrugs his shoulders with an almost embarrassed luck, but he'll be happy to be on the scoresheet just a week before the season starts. 2-0
67 mins: Oh dear - clearly someone has been feeding duff info to the programme team here. Their PNE squad list in the programme includes the long-since departed Dylan Adams, Nathan Fairhurst and Chris McGrail!
65 mins: Barry Nicholson has moved onto the right flank to accommodate Carter, with Zemmama thumping a free-kick straight into the wall as the ex-Aberdeen man settles into his new role.
63 mins: Double substitution for Hibs - off go Van Zantan and Cregg, on come McCormack and Hanlon. I propose a ban on all further changes; I've got a match report to write as well as this, and all the changes are hampering my progress!
62 mins: Triple substitution for PNE - that turned out to be Lonergan's last contribution as he is replaced along with Hart and Sedgwick. On come Henderson, Jones and Carter.
60 mins: More good work from Lonergan. His latest impression on the game is to turn yet another Riordan shot from outwith the area over the bar, with the opposing striker having been fed by John Rankin in an inviting position.
54 mins: Sedge seems to be back moving ok as play progresses.
52 mins: Chris Sedgwick goes down and needs a few minutes of treatment. He seems to have been kicked almost as many times as the ball this afternoon, but that's not to say that Hibs are being particularly unfair, he just seems to be having an unlucky time of things.
49 mins: Nicholson takes a free kick far quicker than Hibs can react to, and Davidson's low strike across goal misses by a whisker with Brown unable to help turn it in at the far post.
48 mins: The ball seemed to take an age to trickle into the bottom corner for that opening goal - the 300 or so PNE fans almost appeared to cheer in slow motion as they saw it rolling in unchallenged.
47 mins: Goal for PNE! What a substitution Bamba allows Mellor to race through on goal, and his first involvement after shrugging off an attempted tackle from behind is to stroke the ball past Ma-Kalambay from the edge of the box. 1-0
46 mins: Double substitution for PNE - Mellor and Brown on for Parkin and Elliott up front at the break.
1603: The second half commences. Sorry for the gap, I was busy muttering away on PNE Player (it's odd trying to get used to not calling it Whites World for the new season).
1546: The half-time whistle blows after just 24 seconds of stoppage time. A decent 45 minutes of football for those who have made the long trip north from Lancashire.
45 mins: Chris Hogg gesticulates like a tennis player disputing a line call after conceding a free-kick, but he was using Elliott as a climbing frame so he can have little genuine cause for complaint.
44 mins: Lonergan's only moment of concern so far as he can only get a glance rather than a punch on Nish's whipped cross, but Chris Sedgwick is on hand in just the right place to thump the ball away to somewhere less troublesome than the edge of the six yard box.
42 mins: Elliott turns three Hibees inside out, but lacks conviction when subsequently attempting a shot from the edge of the box.
39 mins: Davidson throws his body at the ball to keep out Zemmama, who continues to look a cut above.
36 mins: Riordan again tries his luck, this time from 25 yards, but Lonergan collects the stinging shot in his palms with ease, before looking around to wonder what all the fuss was about.
34 mins: Substitution for Hibs - Oh no, they've started already. This one might be due to injury though, with David Wotherspoon (who too will once have been an apprentice) coming on for Kevin McBride, who applauds the fans with little vigour as he trudges off slowly.
33 mins: Lonergan is called upon to block with his legs from Riordan. The striker beat Hart to a bouncing ball and Chilvers hesitated just long enough to give him room to bring the ball down and shoot, but the keeper did well to stop the 14-yarder from becoming anything more than a brief note in the match report.
31 mins: Elliott jumps well at the far post but heads wide from a Wallace corner.
29 mins: Michael Hart hooks his leg round the advancing Ian Murray, and opts to concede a corner rather than try anything too risky. It was the right call, with the referee appearing to bring his whistle close to his lips as Hart took aim for the tackle just inches inside the left hand corner of the area as Hibs attack.
25 mins: In case anyone was wondering why I refer to 'M Hart' and 'C Davidson' in the team line-ups below, it's in reference to the two youngsters coming through the ranks with similar surnames. If you see a game involving 'S Hart', we mean Sam, the Welsh wide man, while 'S Davidson' is Scott, the second year scholar from Northern Ireland. Expect to see both bobbing around the reserve team set-up this year, with both in with a shout of international honours this season too.
21 mins: So far, Preston have played the neater team game, whereas the home side seems to be happier to commit bodies into the heavier stuff if need be, relying on a couple of individuals for the flair element. Saying that, Nicholson and Davidson - the Scots, I hasten to add - have both come up with some pretty crunching tackles in the last couple of moments, both being pulled up by the referee.
19 mins: The lad Zammama can play (I just wish his name was easier to type). Latching onto a Van Zantan throw with his back to goal, he creates a gap between Davidson and Wallace that nobody could have foreseen by executing a lightning fast variation on a Cruyff turn, but having given himself a decent sight of goal, he lets himself down by putting little pace on the shot that rolls towards Lonergan's near post.
17 mins: Derek Riordan - arguably the best-known name to 'southern' readers (e.g. south of here in the far north) in this Hibs side - strikes a free-kick towards the top corner from 25 yards, but Lonergan extends two firm hands to push the ball away to safety.
16 mins: Thanks to those who have confirmed they're receiving the commentary via PNE Player. For those wondering why it's so quiet, we're hoping to have an answer for you as soon as technical support in London can tell us the answer. Teething trouble with the new Flash-based system, is the initial assessment. We've got the mics turned up as loud as they can go without distorting the sound, I so hope the clarity is ok.
14 mins: That man again, Sedgwick, is caught by Bamba, in what (I believe) is the third foul committed on him so far, and we've not even played 15 minutes.
12 mins: Sedgwick drives across the face of goal through a crowd of bodies. Hibs did well for the first minute, but we've been on top since.
11 mins: I just felt something rubbing round my legs that felt like a cat, only to realise it's the tweed jacket of the large bloke in front of me, leaning back into the gap created between the top of his seat and my laptop desk. It's a nice press box, but I have to say that the desks are a tad too high, causing my laptop to block my view of anything directly in front of me, so if anything happens in the South Stand half of the centre circle, I probably won't be able to tell you about it. Sorry.
9 mins: Chaplow drives with plenty of power behind his shot from 20 yards, with Elliott getting a toe on the ball en route but turning it wide. He was probably right to do so, as from here, Chappy's shot looked as though it was heading narrowly off target anyway.
8 mins: The clear perspex cladding at the back of this stand allows plenty of sunlight to shine through, giving this stadium a light, open feel.
7 mins: The two non-playing members of the squad I mentioned earlier have just taken up residence in the plush padded seats three rows in front of me. I make do with a rugged plastic stadium seat, though it's a rare treat to sit on a green seat at a football stadium.
6 mins: Chris Sedgwick gets a clip round the ankle and stays down for a few moments, but eager to avoid any flack in a tough Anglo-Scottish battle, he gets up and hobbles on manfully.
4 mins: Davidson gets involved at the other end as he drives hard and low at a deep cross, the ball striking Chris Hogg and rolling just beyond the reach of Parkin's toes as it drifts wide, but had the ball gone in off Parkin the goal would have been disallowed as the offside flag was up.
1 min: The game is barely 45 seconds old as my tip for greatness, Zemmama, beats Davidson on his outside and cuts into the box, seeing his low shot blocked before it could reach Lonergan's goal.
1501: The game is underway.
1459: A bit of a stoppage before we get underway as we observe a minute's applause in memory of Sir Bobby Robson and two young Hibs fans, James Whitecross and Daniel Neil who were recently killed in a road accident.
1457: The teams come out as strains of The Proclaimers' '500 Miles' fade away and the fans strain into 'If You Know Your History'. As predicted, Callum is captain (I didn't want to state it as fact until I saw it in the flesh with the team sheet not listing who held the armband!).
1454: Right, we're ready to go on PNE Player - tune on in if you have the power to do so.
1453: Estimates from one travelling North Ender was that there were around 150 fellow supporters on his train coming up to Edinburgh today... pretty much all of them must have been on the same train! I'd say there are around 200-250 Lilywhites away to my right in the South Stand right now, but more keep trickling in all the time.
1451: Just getting ready to go live on PNE Player. The mics are live - please let us know if you can hear anything, because we're not getting any playback here to be able to check if all is well.
1441: Here are the teams. Whether or not this is the side that Alan Irvine is hoping to go with when the 'real stuff' starts next week, we have no idea, but the side looks strong anyhow. Not sure who captains PNE - I'll work that out when the teams make their entrance (pretty sure it'll be Callum but you never know). Seems we were right about Sean and Youl being absent.
I last saw Hibs play around 18 months ago and was very impressed with midfielder Merouane Zemmama, who spent last season out on loan in the Middle East while the club tried to find a solution to a complex visa issue involving his pregnant 'under age' wife... don't ask, just check Wikipedia! They have a player called Wotherspoon on the bench - I've never heard of anyone with such a name, other than the fella from 'The Apprentice' last year.
PNE: Lonergan, M Hart, C Davidson, Chaplow, Chilvers, Nolan, Sedgwick, Nicholson, Elliott, Parkin, Wallace. Subs: Henderson, Jones, Trotman, Carter, Brown, Mellor.
Hibs: Ma-Kalambay, Van Zantan, Murray, Hogg, Bamba, McBride, Zemmama, Cregg, Nish, Riordan, Rankin. Subs: Flynn, McCormack, Hanlon, Thicot, Wotherspoon, McCann, Stevenson, Gailbraith, Byrne.
1438: The programme for today's game is possibly something of a record breaker. It may only be 16-pages thick (yet sensibly priced at £1 for a non-competitive game), but there is only one advert within, not bad going. Within it explains that Hibs have only completed three friendlies so far. That figure should have been four, but their game at Raith was abandoned at half-time. Ominous when you consider some of the rain we drove through getting here.
1432: Looking out across the pitch at the North Enders training, we can see Deepdale Duck and a whole host of familar faces, but none of us have yet spotted Sean St. Ledger and Youl Mawene, who we suspect won't be involved on that basis.
1431: Just a reminder that we plan to go live on PNE Player five minutes before kick-off with a brief preview and team news, if we get any.
1426: Bit of a gap in transmission as we look to try and sort out numerous technical issues and go in search of press food (they only had biscuits).
1345: The ground is nice and calm at the moment without any fans inside the ground at present. The stewards are conducting a sweep of the stands for any bombs, knives or guns, that sort of thing, but other than that the only elements to stir the senses are the gentle pitter-patter sounds of laptops being plugged into sockets and the smell of onions drifting along the terracing.
1327: The beauty of pre-season is the chance to explore, and few friendlies in recent seasons have been better chosen by the Club than a weekend in Edinburgh. We've driven through hill and dale, rain and shine to get here, and luckily we're getting more shine than rain right here at Easter Road. This afternoon, we'll be bringing you coverage via Adrian Ward on the Minute-By-Minute and Jonathan Breeze on PNE Player. Stay with us all afternoon to keep in touch with everything that happens north of the border.
