Pre Match
City make three changes from their last outing and see fit-again Nicky Weaver return between the sticks. Hatem Trabelsi replaces Jihai Sun and Darius Vassell lost his battle to be fit and that sees Georgios Samaras back in the starting XI.
The Game
A real sense of anticipation was in the air as the players took to the pitch at Deepdale for this eagerly awaited FA Cup tie.
The large number of City fans were ready for this local derby, complete with inflatable bananas, and in good voice has we got underway.
City were going for it straight from the off and forced a handful of early corners as they pressed for a nerve-settling goal and to quieten the home support.
Despite dominating the opening seven minutes, the home side managed to force their first corner of the game, which was to prove vital. The ball in wasn’t dealt with and David Nugent was on hand to hammer home goal number 14 and give PNE an undeserved lead.
The Blues responded well and Georgios Samaras forced a good save from Lonergan immediately after the opener. Moments later a fine ball in from Trabelsi was volleyed wide by Corradi.
City continued to press as Samaras and Barton went close within a matter of minutes to pulling the Blues level. They were by no means shaken by conceding such as early goal and were playing with some confident football.
Nicky Weaver was called into action after 23 minutes as former England international Michael Ricketts raced clear to bring a great stop out of Weaver. Dunne blocked Nugent’s follow-up before Danny Pugh blazed the ball high into the City fans behind the goal.
With City still attacking the home team a deserving equaliser came on 35 minutes. A fine move involving Barton and Trabelsi saw the Tunisian pick out Corradi who spun well and hit the post with a beautiful volley. The rebound fell to Michael Ball who did superbly well to control his shot as it flew past Lonergan.
An innocuous looking incident saw Ricketts stretchered off two minutes before the break to be replaced by Agyemang.
The game settled again after the leveller and the only real action was another fine passage of play involving Corradi and Trabelsi. This time the former Ajax man just cleared the bar with a vicious drive.
Nonetheless a bright first half of football, which City had been the better side, despite going behind early on.
HALF TIME: PNE 1-1 City
No changes at the break for either side. The half opened to the same pattern as the first 45 minutes, with City putting pressure onto the Lilywhites’ defence.
Corradi has the first chance of the second half with a smart left foot volley, which looked to fly just wide of Lonergan’s goal.
Matty Hill then became the first name to be taken by referee Riley on 57 minutes after a crude looking block on Joey Barton.
The home side took nearly 20 minutes of the second half to muster a chance. Even then it wasn’t enough to trouble Weaver. A flicked header from free kick dipped over the bar to safety.
Preston fans were begining to get a little agitated, but with little reason, maybe they hadn’t been used to seeing teams come here and play good football such had City had done at times.
Despite that, they still had the threat of Nugent and his fleet of foot, as he displayed to completely outfox Distin at one point in the second half.
With just shy of 70 minutes on the clock, City had Lonergan scrambling across goal again, this time Trabelsi with a shot from the corner edge of the box.
City followed this with some lovely one-touch football. Corradi, Ireland, Barton and Ball all combined to earn the Blues yet another corner.
Nerves set in again with just 10 minutes left as both sides did not want to lose the game. All depended now on either team being able to carve out a killer chance.
Then again sometimes the FA Cup is all about luck and City had a large slice of it as City took the lead with just six minutes remaining. Michael Ball’s long throw in was hit goalwards by Samaras before hitting Matty Hill and rolling into the net! An own goal but the City fans didn’t care.
And it got better in the final minute as Stephen Ireland hit a sweet left foot volley into the bottom corner to seal the victory. A fully desserved one at that as City again overcome Championship opposition and march in to the last eight of the FA Cup.
FULL TIME: PNE 1-3 City
