Ressies Revenge

Our roving reporter Crossy2425 was at Highbury to witness Pool put one over Preston. Here’s Crossy’s take on the game:

Pool were inspirational last night and taught North End that last week WAS a one off.

Nardiello got us off the mark after about 20 minutes when he controlled the ball on the edge of the box and curled one past Murphy.
The two collided in a 50/50 challenge about 15 minutes later. This holted the game for 10 minutes and resulted in Murphy being stretchered off and taken by ambulance to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
Unfortunately it seems he may have broken his leg.
North End or not, my best wishes are sent, not a good thing to happen to anyone.

Pool were by far the better team in the first half, the ever vocal Gilks had nothing at all to do.
Joe Martin looked like he is not far off the first team again with some cunning runs down the left. He was comfortable at left back and led the line well.
Nards looked a wee bit rusty and was caught offside a couple of times.
He had a stonewalled pen turned down….the ref was the only person in the whole ground who thought it wasn’t……..unfortunately his decesion is final…..though walking off at half time Nards did voice his concerns at the ref.

Cometh the second half cometh the man. If young Dominic Merella is NOT a sub on Saturday then Larry (who was there again) and Tony Parkes need shooting. Even if he only gets 10 minutes he deserves his chance.
He was AWESOME last night and grabbed a FANTASTIC goal from about 20 yards out…..left footed he curled the ball past the right glove of Proctor the sub keeper… five minutes into the second half.

A nicely worked throw in down the left saw Joe Martin and Nards combine with the keeper making a fine save to his right…he was tested again by Merella.

Pool have a nasty habit of not killing a game, the ressies did just enough against a North End team that looked strong and pressed forward in the last 15/20 minutes.
Matty Kay getting a yellow for handbags with the nobber 7…who appeared to have left his handbag at home.

There was quite a lot of Preston fans there and I was a bit disappointed there weren’t more Pool supporters.

To cut a long story short, it was a solid performance with a great result and a nice airing for Nards and Martin…

Well done and best wishes for a speedy recovery for Andy Murphy.

All of which means Simon Grayson has a wealth of talent available for Saturday’s visit of Barnsley, despite the disappointing news of Stephen Crainey’s long-term absence.

A big thank-you to Crossy for the report and well done to the reserves for getting off the mark for the season.