Preston North End progressed to the third round of the Carabao Cup with a 4-2 victory against Morecambe in an entertaining affair.
Emil Riis scored PNE’s first two goals, his first coming just seven minutes into the game as he calmly slotted home from a Daniel Johnson through ball, and his second came in strange circumstances, tapping the ball in after a collision between Morecambe goalkeeper Jokull Andresson and defender Sam Lavelle.
The home side levelled the scoring with goals from Anthony O’Connor and Cole Stockton either side of half-time, before Ryan Ledson put his side back in front with a thunderbolt from 25 yards, with Sepp van den Berg sealing victory in the last ten minutes.
Morecambe created the first chance of the game early on, with captain Lavelle heading straight at Declan Rudd just moments before PNE took the lead at the other end.
Johnson played a fantastic curling ball straight through the defence and in to Riis, who kept calm to hit the ball across the ‘keeper and into the far corner.
Brad Potts could have doubled his side’s lead four minutes later after he evaded a couple of challenges, but his effort was saved by Andresson.
Rudd was then called into action after a quarter of an hour, doing well to rush out to the feet of Arthur Gnahoua and block his close-range strike.
After a brief stoppage in play 28 minutes in, with referee James Oldham needing to be replaced by assistant Paul Graham due to injury, Riis came close once more, this time taking aim from 25 yards, but Andresson was equal to it.
The Dane didn’t have to wait much longer for his second of the evening, though, as he looked to get on the end of a long ball from van den Berg, but Riis collided with the goalkeeper and defender Lavelle. The Morecambe duo stayed down, however, Riis was quickly back to his feet to tap home.
PNE were pegged back just before the break, though, as Anthony O’Connor bundled home on the end of Greg Leigh’s free-kick from the right.
Shortly after half-time, Rudd saved well to his left to frustrate Courtney Duffus, before Potts and Johnson then came close for North End, with the latter having a fierce effort tipped wide.
Rudd was beaten just after the hour mark as Morecambe’s top scorer Stockton fired the ball past him to equalise.
However, the scores weren’t level for long, as Ledson gave his side the lead once more with a rocket from his right foot heading straight into the top corner, cuing huge celebrations both on the pitch and in the stands.
The fans then had more reason to cheer on 80 minutes as van den Berg tapped home Greg Cunningham’s cross for his first goal in professional football, which sealed the victory.
Morecambe line-up: Andresson; Cooney, Lavelle, O’Connor, Leigh; Duffus (Phillips, 80), Mcloughlin (McPake, 80), Diagouraga, McCalmost; Stockton, Gnahoua (McDonald, 76).
Subs not used: Roche, Jones, Mensah, Wootton.
PNE line-up: Rudd; van den Berg, Storey, Hughes; Rafferty (Bauer, 75), Johnson (Bayliss, 83), Potts, Ledson, Cunningham; Sinclair (Sinclair, 59), Riis.
Subs not used: Iversen, Leigh, Earl, Thomas.
Referee: Mr J Oldham (Replaced by assistant Paul Graham, 29)
Attendance: 4,334 (1,774 PNE fans)