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Just 20 seconds into the game and it was 1-0 to North End on a very windy morning at their excellent Springfields training facility. It was the first time I had been there and to see an enormous space of grass cut like the 18th green at the Belfry stretching into the distance as far as the eye could see rather shows how far we are behind with our own training pitches in Carlisle.
Not for the only time in the match their number ten, playing on the right wing, stuck a fantastic cross in from that flank with his left foot that saw a midfielder running in to volley the ball home side-footed from eight yards out. It was then 2-0 in the fourth minute when Ryan Bowman failed to mark his man at a corner and the North End centre-half was able to volley into the net in similar style to the opening goal.
And then it was 3-0 in the ninth minute as the home side ran all over the young Blues, their extremely pacey winger breaking in from the right after Keiran Cahill had failed to clear his lines at left-back. Cahill then bringing him down in the penalty area, the resultant spot-kick being hammered right-footed into the roof of the net by their number eight.
Three minutes later and it was looking like a cricket score as it became 4-0, Cahill again being beaten by the winger who cut in and smashed an unstoppable 20-yard drive home via the underneath of a shellshocked Mark Gillespie's crossbar. Carlisle finally starting to settle down a little after that goal.
A 20-yard half-volley slashed wide of the United near-post in the 21st minute, then Gillespie was forced into making an excellent low save and hold from a close-range North End header. Carlisle then getting their first look at the Preston goal when James Wood, playing in central midfield, stuck a free-kick in which glanced off the head of Bowman eight yards out and went wide of the far-post after 25 minutes.
Sixty seconds later and a good run in from the North End right-back saw him smack a fierce 15-yard low shot goalwards with his right boot, Gillespie once more making an excellent stop. Preston having two mid-range headed chances in the next four minutes from crosses into the Carlisle box, the first going over the top and the second thumping into the gloves of Gillespie on the bounce.
With 33 minutes gone a foul on Phil Towler 22 yards out on the left saw the free-kick put in by skipper Sean Law and Matty Osmond loop up an eight-yard header which was easy for the North End goalkeeper to take. Four minutes later and it was United again when Law's ball up found Bowman executing a nice turn on the edge of the Preston box before turning and firing a left-footed drive straight at the Lilywhites stopper.
The home side put a lovely move together shortly afterwards though which resulted in Gillespie making another good block from a 12-yard shot. The North End left-winger then somehow miskicking in the 40th minute with an open goal beckoning as a ball was put in across the Carlisle six-yard line from Preston's attacking right-back.
Gladly though the last two attacks of the half both came the way of United through Bowman. The Blues centre-forward, ploughing more of a lone furrow after Mark Sloan had been moved back to shore up the midfield flanks, first seeing a 20-yard shot saved, then secondly hitting an effort from a similar distance well wide of the target.
The second-half, not surprisingly, started rather quieter than the opening period, and the first chance came the way of Carlisle on 51 minutes. Osmond's cross in seeing the goalkeeper flapping alarmingly and the ball drop to Bowman, the United striker's 18-yard shot on the turn though pinging away off a defender.
Sixty seconds later however and it was 5-0, one of the North End forwards running in from the left and cracking in a shot that went straight back to him off the body of Steven Swinglehurst. That was just a taster though as his follow up effort from 15 yards out on his left foot went into the roof of the net like a rocket off the underside of Gillespie's crossbar.
Blues boss Eric Kinder making his one and only change of the game before the kick-off as Paddy O'Brien came on for James Bonner, Wood slipping into Bonner's right-back role as O'Brien, who impressed with his bustling style, slotted into Wood's central midfield spot. North End then making their own substitution sixty seconds later.
After 57 minutes the Preston left-winger hit in a 20-yarder that Gillespie easily saved, then Sloan's weak back header set the home side up for a chance moments afterwards, one of the North End midfielders earning a corner with a toe-poke off the body of Gillespie. The resultant ball in seeing a ten-yard Preston header go well over the top.
Gillespie was yet again in action in the 63rd minute when he made an excellent tip over from a fierce right-footed strike on the run from distance that looked in all the way. One of the North End midfielders then sending a diving header wide of the target three minutes later from a left-wing cross, a chance he should he have done better with.
A speculative 22-yard shot that went past Gillespie's right-hand post then followed before Preston again went close in the 70th minute. Gillespie first making a good save with his feet from a shot from just inside the penalty area, the corner then seeing a bout of pinball which resulted in a shot flying almost onto the golf course behind the far goal.
The home side then used their last two substitutes in the break in play as their coaching staff, which was about six strong, made a double change in personnel. At least Carlisle got on the scoresheet in the game eventually and that came in the 71st minute when Bowman pounced on an awful backpass to side-foot the ball home via the inside of the post from the middle of the Preston 'D'.
In the 77th minute one of those home replacements sliced a 20-yarder horribly wide, then three minutes on Towler was forced to head off the line when a ball in from a North End corner was headed powerfully goalwards from eight yards out. The last action of note coming the way of the home side on 86 minutes when their substitute right-winger was a bit greedy as he shot into Gillespie's side-netting when a cross in would have been the wiser option.
So, not really the start to the season we were looking for with two defeats in three games, the fact that Liam Davison, Jamie Cleary and Ben McKenna are all out injured clearly not helping matters. We are already top heavy with first years this year so when a couple of second years are missing it is always going to cause problems, especially against an older Preston side who looked good at the end of last season and seem like real title favourites this time around.
On a brighter note Mark Gillespie wasn't at fault for any of the goals and once more he showed impressive handling on crosses into his box, the Newcastle-born goalkeeper also making some good saves as the shots rained in on him. Midfielder Paddy O'Brien also put himself about in his short spell on the pitch, while the two centre-halves in Steven Swinglehurst and Ben Richards-Everton worked hard in the face of a desperate lack of cover early on.
United line-up :
Mark Gillespie, James Bonner (Paddy O'Brien 52), Kieran Cahill, Ben Richards-Everton, Steven Swinglehurst, Sean Law (c), James Wood, Phil Towler, Ryan Bowman, Mark Sloan, Matt Osmond.
Unused substitutes :
Jon Ball (GK) and James Reid.
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