[lancsdave]

Here's the version of events from Dumpdale;

PNE 0 Accrington Stanley 4

Preston North End endured a miserable 4-0 defeat at the hands of Accrington Stanley in the LFA Canterbury Cup Quarter Final at Deepdale on Tuesday evening. The game was effectively out of reach for the hosts as they found themselves 3-0 down at half time and Stanley added another after just 10 second half minutes. The Lilywhites fell behind courtesy of goals from Leighton McGivern (24), Lee McEvilly (31), David Brown (45) and Andrew Proctor (54).

Stanley showed their intent to cause the Preston backline problems early firing two long range effort's narrowly over in the first five minutes. Preston were determined not to submit to the early pressure and created a good chance of their own. A good passing move down the left wing left Ormerod in space on the edge of the area, but he sliced his effort and the ball rolled away to the corner flag.
Ormerod again had a great chance after eight minutes. The Lilywhites front man did excellently to round the keeper, however his final
touch was too heavy and he failed to reach the ball as it bobbled out for a goal kick.Joe Anyinsah, who was on the bench for the first team's FA Cup game against Scunthorpe at the weekend, found himself in a great position with 14 minutes on the clock, but he blasted an effort straight at the goal keeper. Too hot to handle it may have been but the only result was a corner which Stanley cleared.

Stanley's McGivern capitalised on Dylan Adams' error on 19 minutes, but thankfully it didn't yield a goal for the visitors. Bringing the ball down their right, he crossed low across goal but McEvilly was too eager to get on the end and was ruled offside, despite Dominic Collins' desperate interception.
Billy Barr's men were left ruing their missed chances at the end of the game and on 22 minutes came one the best chances to take the lead. Collins' hoofed clearance upfield found Anyinsah whose heavy touch meant his chance had gone. He laid off instead to Mainwaring who crossed for Ormerod, but he couldn't apply the finishing touches and Stanley's left back cleared.

Accrington took the lead after 24 minutes through burly front-man McGivern who capitalised on slack Preston marking. Mark Roberts found an unmarked McGivern 15 yards out, the striker shifted the ball onto his left foot and coolly curled the ball around Chris Neal into the far corner.
After seeing their counterparts continue to build yet more pressure and fire more efforts on the Preston goal they went two down on the half hour. Lee McEvilly latched onto a through ball from the midfield and out muscled Collins to get a shot away on goal. Neal managed to get a hand to the ball but not enough to stop it from gently rolling over the line to make it 2-0. Then came the sound of thunder and the flash as lighting as Mother Nature showed her displeasure at the scoreline. The pitch became drenched and made it difficult for Preston to maintain a fluent passing game.

Preston were awarded a free kick five minutes before the break after Jason Jarrett's skillful run through midfield drew a foul on the edge of the box, however Kevin Nicholls' freekick couldn't test the goalkeeper and flew just yards over the bar. Moments later the lively McGivern beat the offside trap to receive a through ball from Shaun Whalley, but his attempted at chipping Neal from eight yards was a mistake as the Preston stopper plucked the ball out of the air with one hand with ease.
The Lilywhites fell even further behind just before half time thanks to David Brown. The midfielder caught Nicholls dwelling on the ball, possessed him and Neal could only parry the shot into his own net.

The PNE coach seemed to have rallied his men in the dressing room as the side came out looking a lot more dangerous. Two minutes after the restart Brett Ormerod took the ball from his own half to the byline and centred a cross for Ashley Higgins to head across the face of goal - just missing the far post. Higgins was again in the action after he received a cross from deep by Dylan Adams - he shot hard and low forcing Martin Fearon in the Stanley goal to save down to his right. The loose ball was picked up on by Ormerod five yards out but the linesman had his flag raised and play was stopped for offside.
It was that man Higgins who had the ball in the net on 51 minutes and Preston thought they had a lifeline. However, he was also judged to be offside after he shrugged off a strong challenge from Graham Branch.
Just as Preston looked to be finding their way back into the game,the scoreline became worse with a goal from the penalty spot on 54 minutes. The referee pointed to spot following a challenge from John Curtis on a Stanley attacker. Andrew Proctor stepped up to smash the ball past Neal who guessed the right way but couldn't block the shot. 4-0 is the way the scoreline stayed and Preston could count themselves lucky due to Accrington having four good chances in the next ten minutes, which included Whalley hitting the post after being one-on-one with Neal having dispossessed last man Jarrett on the edge of the area.

Stanley were fortunate to end the game with 11 men after 'keeper Fearon was only given a yellow card for bringing down Anyinsah just outside the box. With 71 minutes on the clock Anyinsah outpaced the Accrington backline to leave himself with just the keeper to beat, however the referee was lenient by just booking the stopper. The game calmed down from then on but Stanley nearly went home with five goals when McGivern just couldn't reach a pass across goal from his strike partner Grant on 76 minutes.

Preston: Chris Neal, John Curtis, Dominic Collins, Mark Bloxam,
Dylan Adams, Joe Anyinsah, Kevin Nicholls, Jason Jarrett, Matty
Mainwaring, Ashley Higgins (Tom Smyth 58), Brett Ormerod (Danny
Mayor 68). Subs Not Used: Nathan Fairhurst, Jack Cudworth, Mike
Aspin.

Accrington Stanley: Martin Fearon, Philip Edwards, Robert Williams,
Sean Webb, Mark Roberts, Graham Branch, Lee McEvilly (Grant 45),
David Brown, Andrew Proctor, Shaun Whalley, Leighton McGivern. Subs
Not Used: Paul Mullin, Ian Dunbavin, Billy Dennehy.
Referee: Mr. K Mattocks.