Preston frontman Chris Beardsley spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's Johnstone's Paint Trophy first round tie against Carlisle at Brunton Park this evening, Beardsley looking forward to the game despite it being a quick turnaround for North End:
“We have played a lot of games in a short period of time and the lads have done well to deal with it physically. We picked up two good wins in the past week and the boys can’t wait for another game tonight. It is great when the games are coming thick and fast, you can’t beat playing games, especially when it is one at weekend then midweek. The confidence is sky high in the camp and all of the boys are looking forward to it.
“It is a local derby; Carlisle will be a decent force this season so it will be a good test again for the team early on. It is a chance to play at Wembley, I have been lucky enough to play their once in my career and it is a great experience and one I would like to have again. It is a short format in terms of cup competitions, it is a great prize to win, a superb day out for everyone concerned and at the end of the day, it is a piece of silverware to be won. There is no doubt we will be taking the competition very seriously.
“Winning breeds good habits, the way we have attacked the Capital One Cup has helped us, we struggled a little bit early on in the league and the two cup wins have helped us to get going. Obviously with yesterday’s win it is all coming together nicely. We have played good attacking football in all four of our home games this season; we have played well and scored ten goals in four games at Deepdale.
“We should have scored against Colchester United and taken the three points but we didn’t and we have got to learn from that game. The four home games have been good, the fans have got behind the lads but now we have to look into the two away games and we will be looking to put things right away from home tonight. Hopefully if I get my chance I can take it with both hands but I am looking forward to whatever role I have to play.”
In team news for the visitors this evening, despite looking to make plenty of changes they won’t be able to call on four players who are out injured, the quartet being attacking midfielder Joel Byrom, winger Lee Holmes, skipper and central midfielder John Mousinho and striker Lee Trundle, former Stevenage pair Byrom and Mousinho being absent for the short-term with hamstring injuries.
Meanwhile former Derby winger Holmes is out for six weeks or so after having had 45 stitches to repair a deep gash to his knee suffered in a collision with an advertising hoarding at Bournemouth ten days ago. Then finally 35-year old Trundle is out until around Christmas after damaging his knee ligaments in a pre-season friendly defeat at Morecambe in late July.
The 0-0 League One stalemate in Cumbria in March last season was one of six draws between the teams in the 18 games they have played against each other at Brunton Park over the years, with United holding a slight advantage on North End victory-wise at seven to five. As far as this competition is concerned all three ties in it between the Blues and North End have come in Cumbria, with Carlisle first losing 2-1 in the 1986-87 season in the opening round after the group stage, with John Halpin netting for United and Nigel Jemson and Gary Brazil for Preston in front of 1,400 fans.
In the 1990-91 campaign meanwhile it was in the group stage where Carlisle drew 1-1 at home to North End, Tony Fyfe, as 1,826 specators looked on, scoring for the Blues while Graham Shaw netted for the visitors from the penalty spot. The final game again a group stage one as United won 2-0 in the 1993-94 season, with Peter Valentine and Darren Edmondson on the scoresheet in front of 3,909 fans inside Brunton Park.
The referee for this evening's match is Jeremy Simpson from Carnforth and he will be assisted down the lines by Gordon Johnson from Liverpool and Neil Sharp from Hartlepool. Meanwhile the fourth official is Paul Curry from Morpeth in Northumberland. The officials perhaps also responsible for overseeing a penalty shoot-out if the two sides still can't be separated after the 90 minutes.