PNE v Leicester City
Deepdale
Carling Cup Second Round
Tuesday 25th August, 7.45pm kick-off
Final Score: PNE 2 Leicester City 1 (Brown 14, 66; Adams 6)
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90+3 mins: Weale gets right into the mix but PNE thump it clear and the full-time whistle blows. After such a disappointing time of things in this competition in recent years, a place in the third round with the biggest of the big boys is very pleasing. The draw will be made on Saturday lunchtime, so we'll launch news of who we're playing right here at pne.com as the web team travels down to Ipswich. That's also our next minute-by-minute offering, so join Matt Morris then to stay in touch with our progress in Suffolk. Have a safe journey home tonight (if you're reading this on your way back from the game) and a safe journey to Portman Road too. PNE are on the way...
90+2 mins: Brown flicks on for Mellor to strike an angled blow, albeit that Weale doesn't read our script and makes the block. Leicester break and win a corner, so the keeper comes up...
90 mins: There will be a nervy three minutes of added time, particularly if Dickov keeps racing clear when chasing onto through balls, only to be held up by late flags from the assistant.
87 mins: I was oh so close to being right about the crowd - it is given as 6,977 (just 23 away!). The George Banks the Jeweller Man of the Match prize goes to Darren Carter, who doesn't appear to stand up and take a bow from his place on the bench, but he probably should have.
86 mins: PNE keep trying to work crosses into the box in order to finish this game off, but Weale does well to punch clear as one of skipper Sedgwick's balls looks to pick out Brown.
83 mins: Brown holds off his marker and whips a wicked cross into beautifully dangerous territory - the ball rolling along a consistent course just a yard away from the goal-line, but just beyond everyone's reach.
82 mins: Shumulikoski finds Mellor with a good angled ball, the striker winning a corner off Powell to keep PNE where they want to be.
79 mins: Double substitution for Leicester - Oakley off (maybe my fault) along with Gallagher (who, all of a sudden, is jeered by the home fans) as Paul Dickov and Yann Kermorgant come on, presumably forming a front three to chase the leveller.
79 mins: Mellor's first involvement is to be caught offside as he pushes for a third.
78 mins: Double substitution for PNE - Carter and Elliott off as Chaplow and Mellor arrive on the scene.
75 mins: Substitution for Leicester - as predicted, Dyer is on, replacing Dany N'Guessan.
73 mins: Finally signs of a sub being readied for the away side... possibly Lloyd Dyer?
69 mins: Fryatt's feet are lightning fast as he tries to create space in the box, but so are St. Ledger's reactions as he gets across to block a firm shot at the expense of a corner.
67 mins: Oakley plays a more threatening ball to give Adams some freedom, but the scurrying winger can't keep his shot down from 20 yards.
66 mins: Goal for PNE! The free-kick turned out to be a costly one. The ball was worked left to Nolan, and his deep left footed cross was perfectly flighted for Brown, who loops a header into the same corner as Adams' earlier goal from a very similar spot for his and his side's second. 2-1
65 mins: The loudest cheer of the half so far from the home support greets the award of a PNE free-kick after Tunchev barges right through the back of Elliott, sending him flying with arms and legs flailing.
63 mins: Sedgwick spins and slides his way round Powell, eventually winning a corner after his shot brushed the marker's leg and just evaded the near post. Parry's corner is met by Brown's head, but Weale holds on. Still no changes, or even any particularly vigourous warming-up. Surely we're due some soon?
60 mins: Leicester players surround the referee after being told they can't have a penalty as Fryatt goes down under Nolan's challenge, but to be fair, there was minimal contact, Fryatt was going nowhere, and it's only fair seeing as Eddie didn't get his penalty at the other end just a few minutes earlier.
58 mins: Oakley's latest mis-cue sees him lump the ball well wide of target on the volley from the edge of the box. With such haphazard efforts so far, it's surely his destiny to fire in a screamer sooner rather than later. Maybe later, somewhere around the 90th minute mark... That would teach me.
55 mins: Nolan goes down in the box after appearing to get a nudge in the back while chasing Parry's lofted through ball, but the referee disagrees and Leicester race clear down the flank the full-back had vacated.
51 mins: Adams, Gallagher and King play a lovely, crisp passing triangle in and around the area before Preston boot it clear. That was much better.
49 mins: In a less than engrossing start to the second half, Matt Oakley plays a square ball... straight into the dug out. He berates himself before relucantly dropping deep to defend the throw he has just gifted his opponents.
2049: The game re-starts. We need an odd number of goals to go in during this second half, or else we'll be here for an extra 30 minutes, which probably suits just about nobody apart from the most ardent supporter who demands extra value for the tenner he has parted with tonight.
2048: The teams are back out and there don't appear to be any forthcoming changes.
2041: Jordan Roberts lands £30 to spend in the PNE retail outlet after getting the Golden Ball question right and booting the ball into the onion bag.
2038: I may take that last statement back. The first bloke up may have had a flash of the Beckhams about the way he struck the ball, but the balls kept landing the wrong side of the upright. The Club Shop vouchers may be safe.
2035: Golden Ball is being set up at the 'wrong' end of the ground, with the Kop getting a better glimpse of the action. That probably (i.e. definitely) has something to do with the fact that it would probably look a bit odd to have the contestants booting the ball into an unguarded net at the empty Town End of the ground. The balls have also been lined up so that it favours right footed kickers after being told the old set-up meant it was hard to curl the balls into the net from the right flank... on the night that the prizes are 'upped' to a maximum jackpot of £50. We're practically throwing money away!
45+1 mins: King squares the ball aerially for Fryatt, and the dangerous striker comes oh so close to putting his side back ahead, with his header whistling just to the wrong side of the near post from his point of view. The half-time whistle blows as the ball is played back upfield - it has been a decent first half.
45 mins: The board goes up to signal there will be one minute of added time.
41 mins: Eddie Nolan is enjoying a licence to roam tonight, getting forward with great regularity from his left-back spot. His first outing of the season hasn't yet provided him with his first PNE goal, but that's only because Weale got down well to another low strike that was hit with decent pace and accuracy from outwith the box.
39 mins: Brown rises well to powerfully head towards goal from Parry's cross, but Weale clutches the ball to his chest like the full-back in a rugby team, albeit that he then doesn't try to plough his way through the mass of bodies in front of him. That would just be silly.
38 mins: Gallagher breaks into a threatening position on the left hand side of the box, and from certain angles it will have looked as though he scored, with the ball hitting the side netting and rolling along the bottom of the goal frame before coming to a halt.
37 mins: Neilson kicks Brown in the head, and after pondering his next move for several moments, referee Boyeson finally opts to give PNE a free-kick just inside the opponents' half.
34 mins: Parry outpaces Neilson after a lovely upfield ball from St. Ledger, but Powell, making amends for the earlier deflection that helped secure the equalising goal, cuts out the Welshman's cross before it can find Elliott, the only man beyond the full-back and ready to pounce on any errors.
31 mins: Nolan works well with Elliott again, sending the striker away down the left, but Powell is in place to block as Sedgwick tries to strike from the nippy forward's low cross.
27 mins: Adams cuts inside Hart and forces a one handed stop from Lonergan, winning the Foxes a corner. Tunchev heads towards goal as the set piece is swung in, with a deflection taking all the pace off the ball as it creeps towards goal. It still needs to be kept out though, and Carter plays it clear off the line in slow motion.
25 mins: Good to see the Irish lads teaming up to good effect. Nolan and Elliott exchange a one-two as they hare towards the edge of the box, with the former dropping a shot just in front of Weale's crouching position, causing him to fundle and keep the pressure on with a Preston corner.
18 mins: Sedgwick chips a cross into Brown's path with the striker facing away from goal, six yards out. He steadies by keeping the ball off the ground with his first touch, and then acrobatically tries to find the top corner with a scissor-kick; Weale having to throw himself behind the path of the ball to deny a near certain second.
16 mins: Paul Gallagher counters as the open start continues, firing just over Lonergan's bar from nearly 25 yards out.
14 mins: Goal for PNE! Chris Brown suddenly bursts into life just outside the area, and having turned veteran Chris Powell the wrong way round, he compounds the misery for the former England man by striking an angled drive that loops up off the defender to beat Weale, the ball bouncing into the back of the net, almost in slow motion. 1-1
13 mins: Fryatt cuts in from the left and tries another long-ranger from outwith the box, but Lonergan makes a similar stop to his first minute effort.
11 mins: I just felt a scratch on the back of my head, and turned round to notice a broken ISDN box with all its wires spewing out at odd angles, hence the conection with my scalp. Can broken ISDN boxes electricute unsuspecting media bods?
9 mins: Adams is having a good game. He sends Fryatt away down the left, and it gives Leicester a three-on-two overlap before North End can scramble it away for a corner. Loathe as I am to see us trailing, I'm pleased to see Adams doing well, as I used to spend countless hours writing about him as a youth team player when I worked at his former club Bury, and always thought he was cut out to do well. So it proves.
6 mins: Goal for Leicester! Dany N'Guessan dispossesses Parry in the box as he looked to clear, and having shimmied to the by-line, he cut it back to Nicky Adams, who chipped the ball into the top corner from about 14 yards out, cleverly beating Lonergan who had understandably come across to cover his near post. 0-1
5 mins: Aleksandr Tunchev makes hard work of an upfield punt, missing his cue a few times before eventually putting his keeper, Chris Weale, under a fair bit of pressure to race out and collect a mis-placed back header with Elliott nosying in on the scene.
4 mins: My first guess of the night was correct - Paul Parry starts on the left. Now for the announcement of a crowd of bang on 7,000...
3 mins: First touch of the game for former North Ender Paul Gallagher. Absolutely no crowd reaction to him whatsoever, be it positive or negative! Fair enough.
41 secs: Matt Fryatt digs the first shot of the game from 20 yards. It bobbles around a bit before Lonergan extends low to his right to hold on.
1945: The game kicks off.
1944: If you've got access to PNE Player, sign in now, because North End legend Sean Gregan is just about to begin his co-commentary career. Should be good.
1943: The teams are out, greeted by a crowd that I estimate to be around the 7,000 mark. I'll soon find out whether I'm an astute mathematician or a hopeless guesser.
1940: The big screen is currently treating us to a shot of cameraman Sam adjusting his colour balance. Deepdale bathed in a blue tint is an interesting look!
1939: Well that took longer than it should have done. I got to my seat around quarter past, only for my laptop to seemingly suffer the electronic equivalent of a stroke. One very, very lengthy re-boot later and having ripped out my USB modem (cheers Vodafone!) I have now reverted to wireless and all is well. Hope it lasts.
1911: Right, time to move up to my viewpoint in the Sir Tom Finney Stand. I'll be back shortly to let you know if anything exciting happens in the warm-up; possibly an unorthodox star jump routine or some sort of new cone/stick related drill that I've not seen before.
1901: The team news filters through to reveal detailss of two strong line-ups here at Deepdale tonight. PNE make six changes, so it's easier to tell you to read the line-up below than run through them all individually!
The key news is that regular skipper Callum Davidson is one of those semi-rested with a place on the bench, Chris Sedgwick taking the captain's armband. My guess is that Paul Parry will start on the left side of midfield, but I'm probably wrong!
Ex-PNE loanee Paul Gallagher starts up front for the visitors, with their other new signing, former Rennes forward Yann Kermorgant, amongst the subs.
PNE: Lonergan, Hart, St. Ledger, Chilvers, Nolan, Sedgwick (capt), Shumulikoski, Carter, Parry, Brown, Elliott. Subs: Henderson, Davidson, Chaplow, Jones, Wallace, Parkin, Mellor.
Leicester City: Weale, Neilson, Morrison, Tunchev, Oakley (capt), King, Fryatt, Adams, N'Guessan, Gallagher, Powell. Subs: Logan, Gradel, Dyer, O'Neill, Kermorgant, Hobbs, Dickov.
1824: Tonight's edition of our brand new match programme, The One And Only, retails at a specially reduced £2 Carling Cup rate. Don't miss out, as it contains some intriguing stuff, including an interview with PNE fan and broadcaster Patrick Watts, who tells his story of following PNE from the Falklands during the war, while Matt Elliott re-lives the glory days for the Foxes as he looks back at their League Cup wonderyears under Martin O'Neill. Don't forget, tonight's game could go to extra time and penalties, so you'll need something to keep you occupied during the potential breaks...
1821: Good evening one and all, and welcome to our coverage from sunny Deepdale. If it's rays you're after, get yourself a ticket in the Invincibles Pavilion tonight, as the last legs of the sunshine will be touching that stand late in the day. That's the side of the ground where you'll also find Matt Hardman, Steve Cowell, and brand new guest star Sean Gregan on commentary duty for PNE Player and Central Radio, with Matt Morris composing the match report and Adrian Ward putting this precis together. Hope you enjoy it!
