[themaclad]

Back in England after a week’s training camp in Spain, PNE’s pre-season schedule continues on Tuesday night away to Southport.

North End will head to the Big Help Stadium to take on Jim Bentley’s side for a 7.30pm kick-off.

The Lilywhites played their first pre-season fixture last Friday at Pinatar Arena against Sky Bet League One side Lincoln City, where Ryan Lowe gave most of his players 45 minutes each.


It’s expected that minutes will again be split on Tuesday night, especially given North End will then take on Bamber Bridge the following evening. Sam Greenwood and Stefán Teitur Thórdarson both got their first outings in Spain and will be in contention to feature again.

Southport finished 17th in the National League North in the 2023/24 season and this match is their first of six friendlies. They’ve had a busy summer so far, welcoming nine new faces to the club – most recently former Blackpool and AFC Fylde forward Danny Philliskirk.

[themaclad]

[themaclad]

Tremendous 1 down

---

We have scored repeat we have scored

[themaclad]

2-1 Southport

---

Lost

[themaclad]

SOUTHPORT 2 PNE 1

Mads Frøkjær was on the scoresheet for North End as Ryan Lowe’s side were beaten 2-1 by Southport.

The hosts went ahead in the 19th minute thanks to a Marcus Carver header, before Frøkjær levelled matters after half an hour with a tidy finish.

PNE had chances to take the lead after that through the likes of Stefán Thórdarson and Will Keane, but it was a Southport trialist who scored the decisive goal in the 73rd minute.

Carver had the first opportunity of the game inside the opening four minutes as he tested Freddie Woodman, while Brad Potts soon sent an effort wide on the end of a Robbie Brady cross.

PNE were seeing all of the ball but they fell behind in the 19th minute when Nathaniel Knight-Percival’s ball into the box was headed into the far corner by Carver.

North End were level on the half-hour mark as Brady got on the end of a clever pass from Thórdarson and the Irishman pulled it back for Frøkjær, whose effort took a nick off a defender to help it over the goal-line.

Sam Greenwood called Southport’s trialist goalkeeper into making a good save in the 42nd minute and he made an even better stop on the stroke of half-time to prevent Thórdarson expertly finding the top corner.



After the break, Potts fired a powerful strike over the crossbar, and just after the hour mark the lively Frøkjær picked the ball up on the half turn, ran towards goal and saw a low strike saved.

That was his last action as nine changes were made in the 64th minute. One of those, Kacper Pasiek looked promising straight away as he put in a dangerous cross, and when he did the same a few minutes later, Jack Whatmough’s header back towards Keane was nodded over from just a few yards out.

In the 73rd minute, a defensive slip allowed a Southport trialist to cross for another, and he cushioned a volley home from inside the area.

With nine minutes left on the clock, Duane Holmes sent an excellently drilled pass through for Keane, and after receiving it back he couldn’t quite find the target with a first-time effort.

Keane was needed at the other end in the last meaningful action of the game two minutes from time to block a header on his goal-line, meaning the hosts took a 2-1 victory.

PNE starting XI: Woodman; Storey (Whatmough, 64), Lindsay (Bauer, 64), Hughes (Taylor, 64); Potts (Seary, 64), Whiteman (Ledson, 45), Thórdarson (Holmes, 64), Brady (Pasiek, 64); Greenwood (T.Mawene, 64), Frøkjær (Stewart, 64); Riis (Keane, 64).

Attendance: 1,142 (420 PNE fans).

FANTASTIC'S VIEW

After two games of pre-season, Ryan Lowe knows his side have work to do but he’s also seen positive results of “new principles” given to the team.

Following the opening friendly out in Spain against Lincoln City, PNE went to Southport on Tuesday and were beaten 2-1 by Jim Bentley’s side.


Mads Frøkjær was on the scoresheet for North End at The Big Help Stadium where 21 PNE players were given a runout, and they’ll build up more minutes on Wednesday night against Bamber Bridge.

Ryan said: “We’re early stages, aren’t we? We’ve given them some principles in and out of possession. It’s principles of what we want to do going forward and I’ve seen that in possession and out of possession.

“The goals are scruffy, we know that. It’s something to work on. Jack [Whatmough] slips and the kid just crosses it and he scores, but there’s some good moments in there in terms of moving the ball.

“We played Mads and Sam [Greenwood] in the two tens today, and Whitey [Ben Whiteman] and Stefán [Thórdarson] as two fours, and I thought that looked exciting at times with the interchange and the runs forward.

“Listen, I’ve been a non-league player myself and you’re right up for these games. You don’t want to lose but there’s no points gained at this moment in time.

“It’s more for us to get the fitness into the lads, hence why it was 60-30 [minutes] and tomorrow at Bamber Bridge the lads who finished will play 60 and the lads who started will play 30. It’s getting the minutes in.

“We’re disappointed with the two goals, of course we are. We’ve just had a word with the lads in there. We’ve got to ramp it up, keep the back door shut and score more goals.”

While the majority of the squad are working on building match fitness, Ali McCann, Dai Cornell and Kian Best are yet to feature in pre-season.

The gaffer said there’s nothing to worry about with that trio, although midfielder Ali is still at least a couple of weeks away from returning, having suffered a setback since the end of last season.

For the rest of the squad, they’ll make the traditional short trip to Bamber Bridge on Wednesday, before playing a couple of behind-closed-doors friendlies.

Ryan said: “We’ve got the opportunity to go to a Premier League training ground on Friday and pit our wits against a top, top, top Premier League team and we’re privileged to do that.

“We’ve got today, tomorrow, and we’ll do some stuff at the training ground on Thursday and then play a game against a Premier League team and pit our wits against them. That’ll be good because we probably won’t have large parts of the ball. Again, it’s good for us out of possession and in certain games there’ll be loads of good stuff for in possession. We’re looking forward to it.

“We’ve also got a training game next Tuesday and then we follow it up with the Fiorentina game which, again, is a top game.

"We’re two weeks in now and we’ve had two games. I’ve seen some good things and I’ve seen some things that are not good. I’m not going to lie. We’ve got to work on them and be a little bit better.”

[themaclad]

North End are straight back into action after Tuesday night’s friendly against Southport as they make the short journey to Bamber Bridge on Wednesday.

The fixture – a staple in PNE’s pre-season preparations – will get underway at 7pm at the SFC Stadium, and the teams will once again compete for the Gerry Lawson Memorial Trophy.

Tickets will be available to buy on the gate, with both cash and card payments accepted, although cash is preferred to ease congestion. Prices for the match are £10 for adults and £5 for over 65s and U16s, while children under the age of 11 will go free. Please note, ID may be required when purchasing concessionary tickets.

There will be no parking available at the ground and supporters parking in the nearby areas are kindly asked to consider residents.


After one half-time change against Southport, nine further subs were made just after the hour mark by Ryan Lowe, and those who finished the game at The Big Help Stadium are expected to start against Brig.

Bamber Bridge finished 16th in the Northern Premier League during the 2023/24 season and their manager Jamie Milligan signed a new contract at the club in May, amid speculation surrounding his future.

This fixture is their fourth of pre-season, having come out on top against Charnock Richard and Longridge Town, while they were beaten 2-0 by Fleetwood Town earlier in the month.

There may be a familiar face lining up in central midfield for Brig on the night in the form of North End Academy graduate Jack Baxter, who left PNE in 2022.

[themaclad]

[themaclad]

BAMBER BRIDGE 0 PNE 3
The first victory of the season on our way to world domination or more than likely League 1

Preston North End earned their first victory of pre-season with a comfortable 3-0 win over Bamber Bridge.

Layton Stewart got PNE off the mark in the 24th minute and Ryan Ledson then doubled the scoreline in the early stages of the second half.

Theo Mawene – a half-time change – rounded off the scoring with 12 minutes to go, courtesy of a superb left-footed strike off the woodwork.

Duane Holmes – lively in his cameo against Southport on Tuesday night – had the first chance at Irongate, but he couldn’t quite keep his effort down after skipping past a defender.

Kacper Pasiek, who was arguably North End’s brightest spark in the first half, probably should have given his side the lead 16 minutes in, although credit must go to the trialist goalkeeper for getting across to make an unlikely stop.

The left wing-back was involved eight minutes later as his cross was touched into the air by Will Keane, and Stewart was in the right place to slam it into the bottom corner.

Pasiek was denied well by the goalkeeper again just before the half-hour mark and the home No.1 will have been thankful on the stroke of half-time that Stewart didn’t make contact on the end of Ched Evans’ low ball across goal.

There weren’t many opportunities in the opening stages of the second half, until PNE doubled the lead in the 55th minute when Patrick Bauer’s header from Pasiek’s free-kick was parried only to Ledson, who finished it off from six yards.

Following two changes made at half-time, nine more took place in the 63rd minute and one of those introduced, Sam Greenwood almost scored his first goal for the club, only to be denied by the post.

The woodwork was soon to help PNE and Theo Mawene, though, as he showed great skill to cut onto his left foot and send a powerful strike in off the post.

He tried his luck once more in the closing stages of the game, but his effort was sent wide and North End left the SFC Stadium with a 3-0 win.

PNE starting XI: Woodman (Pradic, 63); Seary (Potts, 45), Bauer (Lindsay, 63), Whatmough (Hughes, 63); N.Mawene (Storey, 63), Ledson (Thórdarson, 63), Holmes (Frøkjær, 63), Pasiek (Brady, 63); Keane (Greenwood, 63); Evans (T.Mawene, 45), Stewart (Riis, 63).

Attendance: 1,238.

Fantastic's view

Ryan Lowe was happy to see “special talent” Theo Mawene get on the scoresheet in the 3-0 victory over Bamber Bridge.

The 17-year-old rounded off the scoring at the SFC Stadium with a superb strike which went in off the woodwork, following goals from Layton Stewart and Ryan Ledson.

Having impressed with the youth team last season, Theo earned his chance towards the back end of the campaign by being called up to the first team and went on to make his professional debut. So far this pre-season, he’s featured in all three friendlies.


He played alongside his brother Noah in the match against Bamber Bridge, with the older of the two showing his versatility by starting at right wing-back before moving to the right of a back three.

Ryan said: “They’re fantastic, aren’t they? They’re two excellent kids who’ve been brought up the right way. They’ve got some good qualities.

“Noah’s one of them who can play everywhere and anywhere, and he gives his all. It’s about finding that position for him. We’ll hopefully get him some games out somewhere in the near future.

“Theo’s a different type of character and he’s got a different type of quality. He chops in the area and it hits the post and goes in. I just said to him, ‘Did you mean that?’ and he said, ‘Well I just wanted to score.’

“The two of them are fantastic, along with the rest of them. All the kids are doing a good job. Eventually some of them will go and play some games.

“Theo’s a special talent as you’ve seen, and when he’s playing with better players he becomes a better player himself. I thought Kacper [Pasiek] was excellent as well up and down that left-hand side.”

It was young Pasiek’s cross which created the opening goal of the game, as a loose touch from Will Keane fell kindly for Stewart to slam home.
Ledson then doubled the lead ten minutes into the second half, before Theo Mawene made it three with his well-positioned strike.

Having played on back-to-back evenings, PNE will now prepare for a behind-closed-doors friendly against Premier League opposition on Friday.

“It’s just about getting fit,” the manager added. “It’s good to see some patterns of play, some little moments. Young Theo getting his first goal for North End in a first team game, although it’s pre-season.

“There were some good performances. Layton getting on the scoresheet. I thought Kacper was excellent; all of them. The application to it was better.

“We know we don’t want to get any injuries throughout the course of pre-season, but we’ve just got to keep going. We’re two and a bit weeks in. We’ve had this game, we’ve got a tough game on Friday and lads will play more minutes in that if they’re fine after tonight.

“Then we’ll have more minutes next week so it’s about building up to where we want to get to. The most important thing is Sheffield United at home on that Friday night and that’s what we’re building up to.”

[themaclad]

Beat Liverpool behind closed doors friendly 1-0 Brady, Salah played

[themaclad]

FIORENTINA
DEEPDALE 15.00 20/7/2024

https://www.acffiorentina.com/en

MANAGER

Raffaele Palladino (Italian pronunciation: [raffaˈɛːle pallaˈdiːno]; born 17 April 1984) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is head coach of Serie A club Fiorentina.

Monza
Having coached Monza's youth sector since 2019,[16] Palladino was appointed head coach of their Primavera (under-19) team on 9 July 2021.[17] After having reached the semi-finals of the 2021–22 Campionato Primavera 2 (under-19) promotion play-offs, Monza renewed Palladino's contract for a further year in July 2022.[18]

On 13 September 2022, Palladino was promoted head coach of Monza's first team following the dismissal of Giovanni Stroppa,[16] with club CEO Adriano Galliani stating his appointment to be on a permanent basis.[19] On his debut, Palladino guided Monza to their first ever top flight win, defeating Serie A powerhouse Juventus 1–0.[20] He was nominated Serie A Coach of the Month for April 2023.[21] After having led Monza to avoid relegation six matchdays in advance, on 2 June 2023, he renewed with Monza for a further season.[22]

Fiorentina
On 4 June 2024, Palladino was appointed head coach of Serie A side Fiorentina on a two-year contract.[23]





CLASS FOOTBALL SHIRT



MACS VIEW

Today we haave just lost a behind closed doors friendly to Tranmere, which should put us in good stead for a clash with Italian giants Firoentina who will be playing three games on their tour as well as us they play Bolton on Friday night and finish up at Hull
Looking forward to this and the first chorus of Lowe Out this season.
Apparently another two signings are in the pipeline, let's hope it's not sealed off before the start of the season, my season begins with this Match 1