An unconvincing performance which went our way to one of those moments were an inexperienced keeper and a defender get their communication wrong. A nothing ball from Whiteman was majestically headed into his own net by Charlie Raglan, it was cruel on the home side who deserved more from the game.
Another warm night even on the far outpost of Cumbria, a sell out away section for the second away match on the trot, heaven knows we are loyal having watched some of the crap we have put out over recent years.
Debuts for Walton and Carroll(who apparently spent most of the half throwing up on the pitch), we started the better With Mads pulling the stings in midfield, sadly the Dane did a groin early on and once he had been substituted we lost a bit of our pzazz
A couple of decent efforts from us before Barrow twigged we were struggling to break them down, they grew into the game may have been slightly unlucky when a foul was given on keeper Walton, not sure whether he did have both hands on the ball when the home forward took the ball from him, they were also close to taking the lead just before the break when a shot went narrowly wide.
Second half similar we still stuggled to brreak them down, home effort from the halfway line just over the top and a mix up between Gibson and Walton almost led to a goal keeper did well to save the shot.
Then the break through which helped the game open up, we had more chances although apart form a Thor free kick was well saved by the keeper most of his other efforts ended up in the Irish Sea. Small made a difference when he came on, but at the death on a goal post saved us froma penalty shoot out, Barkhuizen's effort rebounded to safety. Through but not without luck
Barrow 0 Preston North End 1
Referee: Ross Joyce.
Attendance: 3,108 (938 PNE fans).
THE BOSS
Paul Heckingbottom was pleased with “quite a lot” of his side’s performance in Barrow.
North End progressed to the second round of the Carabao Cup thanks to a 1-0 victory over the Sky Bet League Two side.
The win came courtesy of a second-half own goal from Charlie Raglan, who inadvertently headed beyond goalkeeper Ben Winterbottom in the 66th minute.
Hecky said: “I’m pleased with the result and pleased with quite a lot of the performance. I wouldn't say like timeframes, 60 minutes’ worth or anything, just moments we were really good, but likewise moments really frustrated me.
“We've got through, there’s just areas where we can get better and also it's the right thing to do to play the rest of the group today. It’s an opportunity to impress but more importantly for me an opportunity for us to practice again and build those relationships because I felt like the moments where we got things wrong or that I wasn’t happy with were just down to that.
“It's just a brand new group and we want to get our messages across and be as effective as we can whichever XI’s on the pitch.”
PNE made it to the fourth round last year, with one of the wins in the competition coming against another League Two side in Harrogate Town.
North End were 5-0 winners last August and the manager felt his side could have been more comfortable this time around, if they’d have capitalised more on their 22 shots.
Hecky said: “That would be my only criticism. To create that much, it shows we've done a lot of things really well but on the flip side we could have made the game a lot easier for ourselves.
“For example I bet when we were away at Harrogate this time last season we didn't have that many shots but the game was comfortable because we were clinical and we took chances. So there’s lots and lots of good things in the performance, but things where we need to be better as well.”
The negative of the night, though, was the forced departure of Mads Frøkjær, who left the pitch hobbling in the first half. With a number of first team players already missing through injury, PNE will be hoping the Dane won’t be missing for too long.
Hecky said: “He just felt his groin. He felt it slightly about two minutes before he pulled up and then he just went to twist and stretch and he just felt it, so of course you can't take any chances with that.
“Fingers crossed on what the results of the scan will be on that because he's worked really hard. He's looked fit and I was looking forward to watching him play tonight.
“At the minute that is the downside from this game and it's always the risk in football matches. You pick up injuries but we want to try and get more of our boys back rather than losing a couple more.”