PNE v Morecambe
Deepdale
Carling Cup First Round
Tuesday 11th August, 7.45pm kick-off
Final Score: PNE 5 Morecambe 1 (Brown 33, Elliott 45, Nicholson 58, Trotman 69, Mellor 90+1; Twiss 90+3)
Click here to listen to PNE Player coverage from 7pm.
Email your thoughts to the matchday team via ged.mills@thewavefm.co.uk, or send your thoughts via SMS - text CENTRAL then your message to 81803.
90 + 4 mins: It's all over. A solid and morale boosting win for PNE, with all thoughts of the 2007 slip up washed away in the rain tonight. That late strike also sent the visitors home happy, so contentment for everyone in a well-entertained crowd tonight. Sets us up nicely for our first away trip to Doncaster on Saturday, when it will be interesting to see who makes the XI with so many hitting form at the right time. I'll be there for the minute-by-minute coverage once again, so join us then, online at pne.com and live via PNE Player.
90 + 3 mins: Goal for Morecambe! A consolation for the visitors as the ball breaks aerially into the PNE box. Twiss beats Chilvers to the tussle, and the ball lands at his feet just six yards from goal. He steadies himself before giving Lonergan no chance, thumping the ball home from point blank range. 5-1
90 + 1 mins: Goal for PNE! Five-nil always sounds (and looks) good for the victor. PNE achieve the feat after Liam Chilvers, of all people, is involved in good build up down the right, Sedgwick providing the eventual cross that is intended for Trotman. The ball breaks loose at Trotman jumps, giving Mellor the chance to hammer it home from the edge of the box. Four different strikers now have a goal to their credit so far this season. 5-0
90 mins: Three minutes of added time... will be added, I guess.
89 mins: It's all nearly over here, but don't forget that the coverage on PNE Player carries on until 10pm.
88 mins: Trotman makes a cameo run down the right, trading passes with Elliott, but a committed final ball as he tussles with the last man comes to nothing as Mellor is flagged offside in his attempts to race clear.
87 mins: Substitution for Morecambe - Laurence Wilson goes off to give Matthew Poole a brief run.
86 mins: Elliott is held off by a couple of markers on the edge of the box but still gets a (saved) shot away. Coming this early in the season, the game has reverted to the pace of a friendly.
84 mins: Hart's quick thinking lets Sedge unleash the footwork again, jinking into a left footed shooting position, but Roche holds on firmly to the strike.
81 mins: Away fans cry for a penalty as they think Stanley's cross hits Hart's arm, but they're in the minority by thinking so, and the referee, Mr Pawson, is part of the majority.
78 mins: Carter controls Parry's throw with a couple of keepy-ups before volleying a shot that Roche has to extend himself to reach.
76 mins: 5,407 is tonight's official crowd (my spread was bob on), and Stephen Elliott is the George Banks the Jeweller man of the match.
75 mins: Substitution for PNE - the home side's last change as Brown heads off after a good night's work; Neil Mellor on for the last 15.
71 mins: We're just toying with them now as crosses are flung into the box on an increasingly regular basis. Trotman, up for another set piece, heads the best of the half chances wide.
69 mins: Goal for PNE! Trotman must have only been on the pitch for about five seconds, but he gets his head straight onto Nicholson's corner - first touch - and nonchalently trudges away after netting his first for PNE into the bottom left hand corner. What a substitution! 4-0
68 mins: Substitution for PNE - Youl Mawene is going off for Neal Trotman, so Andy Lonergan gets the captain's armband.
65 mins: Double substitution for Morecambe - Drummond and Duffy off, Wainwright and McStay on.
65 mins: The corner is half cleared as far as Carter on the edge of the box. The crowd scream 'shooot', and after a couple of steadying touches he does, the ball just evading the far post as he plays it low towards goal.
64 mins: Brown squares for Elliott, but his shot deflects over for a corner.
59 mins: Substitution for PNE - Thanks for all you've done tonight Ross, now it's time for the new boy, Paul Parry, to show what he can do.
58 mins: Goal for PNE! Wallace crosses from the left, Nicholson dives in to head the ball into the bottom left hand corner. Roche stands and watches the ball hit the back of the net, motionless. It's dangerous to say that seals it, but we're very much in control. 3-0
57 mins: Laurence Wilson resorts to firing in a daisy cutter from 25 to 30 yards out. They need a spark from somewhere, do the visitors.
55 mins: Will Haining turns his back on a beastly shot from Carter - something you're always told not to do - but he gets away with it as the ball strikes his torso and runs away to a reasonable position of safety.
54 mins: "Brownie doing the business once again! Must play at Donny!" writes Tom Harrison from his Blackberry. He's revising for an exam, he tells me, but I bet he's not getting much swotting done at the moment.
52 mins: The flag stays down with Artell totally unmarked in the middle, but luckily for PNE he heads wide of target from no more than ten yards out.
49 mins: "Oh Lancashire is wonderful" sing the away fans to general acclaim, but then as they launch the "It's full of..." line of the famous ditty, the only one of the county's 'assets' the Shrimps fans can sing of is 'Morecambe'. I'll leave you to guess the other two, which North End fans were also generally quite appreciative towards.
48 mins: Sedgwick picks up possession from Hart down the right and cuts inside to shoot low and left footed towards the near post, but Roche flops onto it to keep the scoreline at 2-0.
2049: The second half is underway.
2048: The teams are back out in the damp.
2046: I can't wait for someone to win the Blackpool FC car sticker in this contest.
2045: I didn't quite catch what the lucky winner actually won after being picked out in the crowd by Sam's camera, but I think someone said it was a three-month cruise for two on the QE2 around the Bahamas with a subscription to PNE Player thrown in. Or something like that.
2042: Wave It To Win It is back. With all these programmes being thrust around in the air, it looks like a cheap immitation of the 'Last Night of the Proms'.
2038: I'm not sure how many fans were in the family section of the Sir Tom Finney Stand to start with, but virtually anyone that started there hasn't stayed behind for the break, as a big screen shot of that section of the stand reveals virtually all of Sir Tom's face in the seats.
45+2 mins: Half time arrives, and PNE will be very happy with their first half efforts. A slick, professional first half for Alan Irvine's men has given them a very good chance of being in the hat for tomorrow night's draw.
45+1 mins: Goal for PNE! Youl Mawene slides the ball from back to front to send Stephen Elliott racing clear, and he looks all set to shoot as he glides into the box, only for Craig Stanley to execute a great cross and give away a corner. However, the respite is short lived, as Wallace plays it in from the right and Morecambe leave Elliott unmarked to head the ball past Roche. A very useful lead for PNE. 2-0
45 mins: There will be two minutes of added time.
38 mins: Good change of direction from PNE. Hart in a wide position puts plenty of pace on a pass to Brown who's more central, but he intentionally lets it run right along the edge of the box to give Wallace a strike. Ross hits it well, but Moss sticks his back in the way to bung it over the bar for a corner.
35 mins: Hopefully you're now up to date with the penalty and the opener. My connection was down again throughout that whole patch... I think I'd better shut up about it now to spare you any further boredom, and if you happen to notice that the page has gone quiet, it's probably best to assume that there's damp in my wireless again.
33 mins: Goal for PNE! A nice neat effort in build up and finish, if not the way it actually crossed the line. Hart cuts inside and crosses straight onto Chris Brown's forehead, and though the big man's header is on target, it only seems to roll over the line after hitting his marker and taking the pace off the nod. 1-0
31 mins: Lonners save the penalty! Great reflexes from the big man, diving low to his right to punch the ball back out of the box. That's three saves in four penalties from the PNE stopper if you include pre-season.
30 mins: Penalty to Morecambe! Craney shows he's still alert as he bursts into the box, but seems to be heading away from goal as he and Lonergan collide. The referee think about it for an age before finally pointing to the spot, to the dismay of everyone in white. Duffy steps up and aims for the bottom left hand corner...
29 mins: Ian Craney's speculative shot plays pinball off the heads of Mawene and Chilvers but North End's defence retains its composure long enough to clear.
25 mins: The extended white sleeves and shoulder design on a predominantly red shirt makes Morecambe resemble a Rotherham side of some five or six years ago when they were last on level pegging with PNE, divisionally speaking, so forgive me if I start absent-mindedly referring to them as 'The Millers', the 'South Yorkshire side' or even 'Ronnie Moore's Barmy Army'.
24 mins: Sedgwick crosses, Brown heads over. Plenty of half chances being created, just waiting for one to really test either keeper.
23 mins: A fifth loss of connection ends just in time to allow me to mention Darren Carter's 25-yard curling shot, which Roche holds onto with relative comfort.
18 mins: Chris Sedgwick beats his man two, three or even four times as he goes on a jinking run, but Darren Moss brings all the fun to an end as he throws his body against the eventual cross to prevent it from finding its target, Chris Brown.
15 mins: I'm now told my wireless signal strength is 'excellent'. That's all well and good but it was 'totally useless' for four minutes as it dropped off as I saved my last line. That's four times now - can the rain affect a wireless signal? Let me know via matchday@pne.com because I'd be interested to find out.
11 mins: Another Duffy cross whips through the box at a very headable height, but luckily no-one makes a connection.
8 mins: Nicholson dinks the ball back into Brown's path, and his shot is well tipped around the post by Roche's out-stretched arm.
7 mins: A warning sign for PNE as Mark Duffy's right wing cross is headed across the face of goal by loan striker Michael Twiss. Morecambe seem to be operating a 9-Ball-Twiss formation in defence.
5 mins: 243 seconds in, and Andy Lonergan's goal kick is his first touch of his 150th PNE appearance. Don't accuse me of not telling you what's going on...
4 mins: Not merely content with trying to lose all my work, my internet connection drops off, and when it finally returns, I'm told that my machine wants to restart to install some automatic updates. Someone is against me!
2 mins: All PNE from the kick-off and an early corner is forced, Brown heading Wallace's ball in straight at the keeper.
1947: The game kicks off.
1947: As soon as the excellent minute's applause ends, I catch the Insert key again, losing yet more vital script. Irritating.
1945: Could someone please tell me why on earth computers have an 'Insert' key? I just caught it and lost several words of witty and informative text.
1944: It's hard to guage tonight's crowd. If I was a betting man, I'd go for a spread somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000.
1942: The teams make their way out onto the very sodden - but nonetheless immaculate - turf.
1937: Prior to tonight's game, we will once again be observing a minute's applause. Saturday was all about Alan Kelly snr, tonight is all about Sir Bobby Robson and Keith Macklin. Both made very different but very important contributions to the game in this country, so I hope everyone remembers them fondly tonight.
1934: I've just noticed that the seats in the general seating area of the Sir Tom Finney Stand just in front of me are padded, whereas my seat is distinctly plastic-only. I might have to move for comfort's sake, although the idea of balancing a laptop on my lap for 90 minutes doesn't really appeal. They don't live up to their name, do they?
1933: I timed my dash well. I avoided the rain, but I didn't avoid having to stop for conversations with several familiar faces. And for a sandwich. And a quick drink. Oh, and an obligatory pie. The only thing missing is a pint, but I'm a professional (ish).
1913: Things seem to always be very lax on Carling Cup nights. As usual, most of the press have turned up without passes, but we're kind enough to accept their sob stories and let them through with character references from the Pope and such like. On nights like this, I'm almost temped to make these rule-benders stand outside for ten minutes as we point and laugh from behind glass in the warmth, finally letting them in when they properly adopt the drowned rat look.
1909: Hmm... still raining. Might delay my dash over to the press box until it stops. Although saying that, it looks pretty set in, so taking that approach could cause me to miss kick-off!
1900: A bit later than planned here we go with the minute-by-minute. One up shot of having to take part in the Great Pie Hunt of 2009 (the press pies weren't delivered so I've had to beg and steal pies from afar - obviously we couldn't borrow them) is that while I'm late starting, I can kick straight in with the teams, rather than having to waffle on to keep you interested.
We knew PNE would have to make three changes - in the event, they make seven. Andy Lonergan, Billy Jones, Ross Wallace and tonight's skipper Youl Mawene are the only four retained from the starting XI named for Saturday's 2-2 draw with Bristol City. We're delighted to report that Liam Chilvers starts a competitive game for the first time in 17 months.
Very observant people will note the absence of Morecambe's talisman Jim Bentley, who's injured, and three of the subs - due to international call-ups and the like, PNE only name five subs, while Morecambe select six.
PNE: Lonergan, Jones, Mawene (capt), Chilvers, Hart, Sedgwick, Nicholson, Carter, Wallace, Brown, Elliott. Subs: Henderson, Chaplow, Parry, Trotman, Mellor.
Morecambe: Roche, Moss, Adams (capt), Artell, Stanley, Twiss, Craney, Drummond, Duffy, Wilson, Haining. Subs: Davies, Poole, Wainwright, McStay, Winters, Jackson.
Words: Adrian Ward
