| A goal from goalkeeper Iain Turner put the icing on the cake as North End scored twice late on to take all three points against Notts County at Deepdale. Turner added a second after Brian McLean had opened the scoring with his first goal for the Club with a towering header seven minutes from time. But it was the No.21 who will capture the headlines after his long punt bounced over Stuart Nelson in the Magpies' goal to the delight of his team-mates, management and fans. Manager Phil Brown made two changes to the side that has earned his first 1-0, against Exeter the previous week, with Daniel Devine replaced by Conor McLaughlin and Doyle Middleton's place going to Danny Mayor. This meant a change to a 4-4-2 formation with the young winger operating on the right and Barry Nicholson tucked in on the left. The first half was bereft of goal mouth action with North End coping admirably with long balls from the visitors and themselves unable to breakdown a resolute County backline. The best opportunities of the half came when the Lilywhites used the flanks, with Danny Mayor and Parry Parry providing the ammunition, with Barry Nicholson going closest with a header a few minutes before the break. Martin Allen's side did force the only save out of a goalkeeper in the first half with former North End man Karl Hawley finding space on the right hand side of the box that Turner needed to clock with his legs just after the half hour mark. The second half started in comical fashion with the assistant referee knocked over the advertising hoardings after bouncing off Neil Mellor, but it was the introduction of Iain Hume just before the hour mark that seemed to bring some life to the game. And on 61 minutes Stuart Nelson needed to be at his best, at full stretch to palm a left-footed effort from Jamie Proctor round the post. From the resulting corner, Paul Parry's quality - that would be evident again for the goal - was almost met by Clarke Carlisle, but the keeper managed to claim at the second attempt. The breakthrough finally came seven minutes from the end. Paul Coutts won a corner with some persistence on the right. Paul Parry swung over a tantalising ball from in front of the Town End and McLean - starting his first game at centre half - timed his run perfectly to power a header past Nelson. The 10,759 crowd were now on their feet and were jumping joyously three minutes later when North End grabbed their second in unusual circumstances. Iain Turner had the ball and looked to release quickly, seeing Neil Mellor with a one on one opportunity. The long punt was well-weighted to allow the forward to put pressure on the centre half and draw Nelson from his goal, but the bounce of the ball took it over him and into the empty net, much to the delight of the PNE players and faithful. North End then professionally played out the time to record their third consecutive victory and third consecutive clean sheet - the first time they had recorded three shut outs |
| PNE Ian Turner |
| Views: 249191 | 2011-08-27 |