GAME 1 PNE V FIORENTINA

 PNE 2 Lindsay Keane Fiorentina 1 Mandragora

New hope, new ways of annoying me, roadworks Garstang Road, tradition, new ticketing system, first ticket, didn't work, replacement ticket did though however the gate shut atbrapid knots so couldn't get in, was then descanned out before finally managing to get in, next misery no John Smith's just the fizzy more expensive forign carp. Glass of wine then.
Pitch looked in good nick and we have new LED floodlights

By the time the game kicked off the sun was shining down a rarity this year. The visitors sporting the finest shirt in footbvall history won the toss and had the temerity to have us playing towards the Town End in the first half.

The first half was entertaining at times we played some decent stuff but they were rapid on the break. Of the two new players Greenwood shone plenty of work rate on and off the ball. Nearly conceded in the first 30 seconds wayward pass by Mads FJ shot from the edge of the box tipped round by Woodman, plenty of end stuff the number 99 looked a lively forward ran at pace against our ever so speedy defence, did well to survive some early forays before taking the lead from a corner, keeper thought he had been fould but he seemed to kick the ball against Lindsay and in it went, didn't lead for long, fast break men in hand strategic foul by Lindsay edge of the box, Mandragora the Italian skipper blasted home as the edge of the defensive wall collapsed.

Re took the lead good play down the left by Brady, Mads FJ and Thor led to Keane scoring at the second attempt, should have been all square at the break good move down our right hand side but 65 blasted over the bar from close range.

In fairness they dominated the second period and employed a shoot to miss policy, Woodman great save to deny one Italian effort, we then had our best period of play but when the move broke down away scampered Firoentina neat interchange of passing no 99 about to pull the trigger great tackle by Brady or so I thought, Mr Langford gives a penalty.The Number 99 sends it to Woodman's left tips it onto the post to safety. They hit the bar and Moise Kean missed two chances one he intercepted a shocking backpass by Greenwood took the ball passed Woodman and from a tight angle and rolls thye ball narrowly passed the far post, near the end when through tried to lob Woodman sent his effort just too high.
Useful workout but other teams will punish us if we let them create so many chances.

DODO No 2

PNE line-up: Woodman; Whatmough (Storey, 72), Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Whiteman, Thórdarson (Ledson, 72), Brady (Best, 84); Greenwood (T.Mawene, 90+1), Frøkjær (Holmes, 64); Keane (Riis, 63). Unused subs: Cornell, Pradic, N.Mawene, Pasiek.

Attendance: 5,516 (70 Fiorentina fans).



Stood next to a Fiorentina fan whilst changing my ticket finest Glasweigian accent ever no doubt sells ice cream

Fantastic view

Ryan Lowe felt his side were impressive with and without the ball in the 2-1 victory over Fiorentina.

North End came out on top against the Serie A outfit thanks to first-half goals from Liam Lindsay and Will Keane.

As a side who have made it to back-to-back UEFA Conference League finals, the Italian visitors were always going to be a stern test, but the gaffer was pleased with his team’s performance.

Ryan said: “It was a great exercise. Like I’ve said all along in pre-season – yeah, it’s nice when you win, especially at home – but pre-season’s all about getting minutes in the legs as we know. Getting the volume in and working on some patterns of play.

“The lads were excellent and did that, the starters and the finishers. We’re really pleased, scored two good goals. The goals came from stuff that we’ve been working on.

“I’ve just said to the lads you’ve got your goals from that, so if you continue to do that good stuff then that’s where you’ll get some success, so fair play.”

Fiorentina did have their chances on the day, with Freddie Woodman coming to North End’s rescue on a few occasions – notably in the second half when he saved Christian Kouame’s penalty.

Coming up against a side who were expected to see more of the ball was something the manager wanted, so he could see his side work on out-of-possession tactics, however PNE worked the ball well themselves at Deepdale.


Ryan said: “They’re a team that have finished in the final of a European competition the past two years on the bounce. They’ve got some good players, I know it’s probably a mixture a little bit.

“We had to see the game out towards the back end and we spoke to the lads then about what that will look like next time. If we can get pressure on the ball, do we have a low block and work on stuff like that. We can always get better.

“We had large parts of the ball as well and when we had it we looked a threat with it so we’ll keep working on it for the next ten days and hopefully bring it to fruition on the Friday night [against Sheffield United].”

Another positive to take was that everyone involved seemed to get through unscathed, although Ali McCann and Milutin Osmajić were again absent from the start.

Ryan explained: “Milly will hopefully be involved on Tuesday. Ali’s had a little bit of a calf strain so we’ll wrap him up in cotton wool a little bit.

“He’ll hopefully be on the grass next week. If he’s around for the first game, we don’t know yet. We’ll have to keep monitoring him, but he’s getting better day by day.

“He’s doing a lot of stuff off the grass. Milly will train fully Monday, he had a nerve in his back but we’ll hopefully get him some minutes on Tuesday.”