Preston went goal crazy as they came out on top in an eight-goal thriller against Curzon Ashton in the first round of the Premier League Cup on Sunday afternoon.
North End started brightly at their 'home' cup venue, Preston Sports Arena, with an early chance going their way after striker Sam Cadwallader played a ball through to right winger Laura Walker who returned it across the box but with nobody was following in.
Full back Alison Taberner then passed to striker Gemma Watson who attempted to chip the oncoming keeper and in doing so put wide. Curzon's first threat on goal on 12 minutes required brave keeping form North End keeper Jenny Horrocks who smothered the ball at the feet of striker Kelly Dean.
On 15 minutes Watson worked hard to retain the ball, her pass to Walker then played on to Cadwallader who shot on target into the arms of Curzon keeper Jade Thornborough. In the next minute, however, the breakthrough was achieved as a short corner from Walker was played into the box by Taberner for North End's captain Sarah Berry to finish, giving the home side a deserved 1-0 lead.
Taberner's long throw to Watson on 20 minutes was cut back to Louise Cafferkey who gave Thornborough no chance with her right footed low shot into the bottom corner as North End doubled their lead during a period of dominance.
On the half hour, home keeper Horrocks had to be alert to tip a Deane shot from the edge of the box round the post. Curzon then failed to benefit from a couple of free kicks awarded in their favour, shooting wide and over.
Cadwallader however made no mistake on 40 minutes when despite her height disadvantage got between the Curzon centre backs to head home for a 3-0 advantage. The last action of the half gave Curzon a lifeline going into the interval, a cross from the right from some distance out by Amanda Goodwin deceiving the Preston back line and keeper Horrocks, dropping into the far top corner.
Into the second half, North End had the first opportunity with Watson, Walker and Cafferkey linking up well causing Thornborough to parry initially but gather at the second attempt. Watson's hard work to play the ball in then proved fruitless as Thornborough gathered her low cross. Curzon continued to persevere and their reward came in the 55th minute, reducing the deficit to 3-2 with Kelly Dean's shot finding its way into the top left hand corner.
Sarah McCrea, returning from injury, then replaced Cafferkey on the left wing with Watson's last effort before being substituted for Hannah Bailey on 68 minutes forcing a good save from Thornborough. Bailey immediately made her intentions known beating the offside trap but seeing her shot across the keeper go wide. In the following minute a Taberner free kick was somehow cleared from a goal mouth scramble with Bateman seeing her shot back in being tipped round the post.
On 70 minutes Walker's corner was met at the back post by Cadwallader who headed over but Bateman found the back of the net in the following minute, rising to another Walker corner to give the home side a two-goal advantage at 4-2; Walker was then replaced by Mel Martin.
Bailey and Cadwallader had other opportunities to extend the lead but it was Curzon who found the back of the net again first, a free kick awarded in the 85th minute was not cleared at the edge of the box and found its way past the Preston defence and keeper to set up a tense final five minutes with the score line at 4-3.
In the last action of the half - much to the relief of players and spectators alike - Martin played an intelligent ball back to Berry who finished from outside the box to make the final score a 5-3 victory to the Lilywhites.
North End boss Simon Gerrard took plenty of heart from the outing, explaining:
"I think the result was the important thing for us off the back of the league result at Manchester City.We worked hard, and though the quality of the performance perhaps wasn't quite as high as some of the ones we've put in previously, it was still an important performance from our point of view.
"We scored a few goals which is a good confidence boost for the players, and we managed to show a bit of quality. They started off nice and bright and to be fair I think they dominated for the first ten minutes but we took a fair bit of control after that and went three goals ahead.
"They got a few goals back when we were 3-0 up which gave them a bit of momentum early into the second half, but once we had our fourth goal that was pretty much it really. It was probably a good game for the crowd, but it wasn't that good a game for me until about that point when we made it safe!
"We've spoken to the players a few times this season and told them they've not been playing badly, we've just not done enough to kill teams off, such as doing the right things at the right moments. I think this weekend's game at Rotherham is going to be an important fixture for putting these things right, I know the players are determined to do that, and they showed a lot of determination against Curzon Ashton.
North End must now await the draw for the second round as the top flight teams join the competition, but in the meantime they return to league action next Sunday 21st September with an away fixture at Rotherham.
PNE: Jenny Horrocks, Alison Taberner, Louise Belcher, Sarah Jones, Vikki Eastwood, Laura Walker (sub Mel Martin 70), Anisha Bateman, Sarah Berry, Louise Cafferkey (sub Sarah McCrea 65), Sam Cadwallader, Gemma Watson (sub Hannah Bailey 60). Subs not used: Ange Willoughby, Cathy Jones .
The reserves were away at last year's reserve champions Leeds Carnegie and despite putting in a creditable performance lost 3-0.
