Dale crashed out of the League Cup to a Preston side after conceding a goal either side of half time.
Odd game to report on. I thought we made a slow start and for the first 10-15 minutes, we were hardly out of our own half. Preston looked a solid side, and were certainly dictating the play.
But things brightened up and for the remainder of the half, we took control. Considering they are one of the fancied teams in the division, there were certainly positives to be took. We passed the ball well, used the full width of the pitch and retained the ball really well against last season's Play Off finalists.
But like with Saturday, we can have all the possession in the world if we're not going to threaten the opposition goal, and despite a succession of corners, we didn't look like we were going to get on the scoresheet.
In all fairness, neither did PNE. But then they did. A mistake by Michael Rose to allow his opponent to get goal side, and from that moment on, it looked awful. He got to the deadball line and crossed/shot and the ball ended up in the back of the net, and thirty minutes' worth of good work was thrown away.
A minute after the break,it was game over. We had a lucky escape when Josh Lillis pulled off a great save. From the resulting corner, it was a case of oh my god their Kilkenny volleyed home to make it 2-0.
From there on, it was like a training ground exercise for PNE, and whist we kept plugging away, we lost shape at times such was our desperation to get back into the game, and aside from Joel Logan coming close to netting within 20 seconds of his professional debut, it was something of a damp squib for the remainder of the game.
Questions will remain about our firepower up front following the sale of Scott Hogan, but it may be that games against the likes of Cheterfield and Crewe will give us a better picture of how we stand for this season.