Tuesday 4th March 2008, a memorable day for Preston North End. Darren Carter's last minute 'goal of the season' at Leicester set the Lilywhites on the way to safety in the Championship. For one of the defensive stars of the night the 17 months since have been rough, but with tonight's Carling Cup first round tie approaching, along with it could see a phoenix from the flames!
Liam Chilvers has not really kicked a ball in anger since that game, rupturing his Achilles on the following Saturday in the warm up at Charlton Athletic. Five minutes as a sub at Birmingham last season hasn't been much solace for a man who up until then hadn't missed many games for the Lilywhites.
He spoke to PNE.Com ahead of the clash with the Shrimps and talked about feeling part of the squad again and wanting to have a good cup run…
You were on the bench on Saturday, but wasn't it great to see the character of the lads to come back from a two goal deficit so late in the game?
It wasn't the start everyone would have liked and watching it you want the team to do well and start the season well and it is not nice to sit on the bench or in the stands as a player or fan to see things not going the way you want it to, but the team got through a patch of about 20 minutes in the second half when things just didn't go right and they showed the character to come back. We through everything we could at them and ended up nicking the goal to draw the game 2-2. We turned it round from a position where it was going to be an awful start to where we got a point and looking at the league we are seventh, so it is not too bad considering we drew the game. It turned into a bit of a positive at the end of the game.
If you are going to draw a game, you might as well do it in that fashion?
You could look at it and say Bristol probably through it away, being 2-0 up, but we came from a losing posing position to get a draw and having needed two goals to do it, it felt to the lads a little bit like we had won. We managed to get something out of the game from being in such a bad position, but no one is under any illusions that it wasn't the best of starts for us, but we can go into more games and try and take positives from it.
Onto Morecambe and the international call-ups are going to give other players an opportunity tonight and after a long wait for yourself, you could be back in the first team.
It will be nice to start a competitive game again. It has been a long time since the last one, so it will be good and it will be another step on the ladder back to full fitness and playing games. It will be great to get a start and after that it will be a case of getting back into league games again and once I've done that I will hopefully have fully recovered from it all and be ready to move on.
You'll have memories from the last time we played Morecambe and no-one will want that repeated?
I was in the stand for that game last time, so I was sat watching it. It wasn't very nice to be sitting in the stand and to see the team lose, so that is in the back of my mind and I am sure a number of the other lads remember it as well. We know it won't be an easy game. They are a good footballing side, so we know we have to go about it right and do everything we can to get the right result and progress into the next round.
It illustrates in Britain that there are cup shocks in every round of every competition and the last thing you want it to be one of those?
I think the way you have to look at it, to motivate yourself, is that they want to come here as the underdogs and beat you. You don't want to be beaten and be the ones who are the shock of the round and plastered all over the back pages. So that has to be your motivation. We have to go about it right, that's the most important thing. We can't underestimate them; we have to match them. It might take 70, 80 or nearly 90 minutes, but eventually our abilities have to show through and hopefully we will do it right and get the result.
Even if the gaffer changes the team around, the squad is now of the quality that the team won't be any weaker.
Compared to last year we have a slightly bigger squad and in terms of depth there is no one there who is just filling gaps, everyone can play Championship football. It is a good opportunity with the cup for people like myself and a few others to get a game. For me personally to start a game and just to get myself back into it, it is great and for others it will be a chance to prove a point; show that they can do it and that they want to do it in the league games. I am sure it gives the gaffer problems having a bigger squad, but I am sure it is a nicer situation to be in that not having enough players. It is just of part of being in football and I am sure everyone will get used to it.
You said in an interview with PNE.Com at the end of last season you felt a bit detached in the Play-Off run, will this make you finally feel like you are back as part of the squad?
It was strange last season. I was involved and I was on the bench, but in particular in the Sheffield United game away, because I hadn't played in any of the games, bar about five minutes at the end of the Birmingham one, you don't get the same emotions that the lads have had from playing in games and knowing what they have gone through. I'd gone through different things that were related to my injury and not to the games and how hard the lads had tried. So to see it all disappear on one game is a hard thing to take, but I am sure the lads will take from it what they need to and come back stronger. For me, if I can play more games this year then I will feel part of the squad again and I will feel I am contributing something rather than just sitting there and enjoying the night away before away games and sitting there watching games. It is a lot nicer to be involved.
Finally, we only have to look down the road to Burnley to see what a good cup run can do for confidence.
They did very well. I don't think any player has a problem with playing a lot of games if you are winning and they did that and they did it well. You end up playing a lot of games, 50 or 60, but as long as you are doing well in them and the team is being spoken about then you are only going to get fitter from it, so you can't be too negative towards it. If you are in the Premiership, Champions League and playing 70 games or more then that's a bit different, but for us you want to be involved in everything you can, that's part of being successful. If you are winning games, whether it is league or cup, it adds to confidence, so to take one more game each time, because you've won the last round, is fine because the further you go, the better teams you play against and those are the teams you want to be playing against.
Tickets are available from the ticket office, or you can pay on the turnstiles on the Bill Shankly Kop, Sir Tom Finney Stand or buy from the Invincibles Pavilion ticket office for the game.
