A comprehensive victory and a passage into the second round of the cup made great reading for midfielder Ryan Ledson who made his starting debut for North End tonight.
Ledson was accompanied in the middle of the park alongside Paul Gallagher with Alex Neil making a total of 11 changes for tonight’s first round Carabao Cup clash from the defeat to Swansea on Saturday with the aim of getting some minutes to the players who haven't played as much over the past two games.
Speaking to iFollow after the game, Ledson spoke of a professional performance from the Lilywhites as goals from Brandon Barker, Louis Moult and Graham Burke gave North End a 3-1 win.
He said: “I think maybe the last ten minutes of the first half we conceded a sloppy goal early but other than that, I thought the lads took their goals well but we probably should have had a few more - It was a professional performance.
“We carved them open a lot today. When we want to we can move the ball really well – the pitch is brilliant so we can get it down, get it out wide, come through the middle and with Moulty sinking in and playing off the front it all came together.
“I think it’s a satisfying result for us. We’re obviously disappointed to concede but it’s all about seeing who we get in the next round now.”
The downside Ledson alluded to came late in the first half through Liam Mandeville who managed to pull one back for the Shrimps after Barker and Moult had opened the scoring.
“We knew that the next goal was important,” continued Ledson after North End had their advantage reduced just before the break.
“They would have been rallied up at half-time by their coach but we got the ball down again and tried to break them down and give it to Brandon who I thought caused them problems all night. We tried to get DJ in there and Burkey in the pockets and try and carve them open."
On Burke's first goal for North End which ultimately wrapped up the tie and gave PNE a third, Ledson added: “It will be a great confidence booster for Graham and settle him right into the club and I think he’ll be ready to kick on now.
“I said to him in the warm up to make sure you get your shots off because he can strike the ball really well and it showed today when he hit it into the bottom corner.”
Watch Ryan's full interview on iFollowPNE now.