Wednesday 24 February 2010
totesport.com League Cup
Preston North End  4 (Proctor 5, Miller 40, McLellan 44, Mayor 57)
Bradford City 3 (R Boulding 20, Neilson 86, 89)
Kick Off: 7.00pm
at the QED Stadium, Bamber Bridge

A late Scott Neilson double wasn't enough to stop the Bantams reserves from tumbling out of the totesport.com League Cup, as Peter Taylor used the match to run the rule of several of his squad members.

A win or a draw would have proved enough to send City into the Semi-Finals of the competition, but they agonisingly fell to a 4-3 defeat in a hugely entertaining game.

Despite the loss, the match did allow the watching Taylor the opportunity to cast a further look over the likes of Neilson, Chris Brandon and Michael Boulding.

Preston struck first in the match through Jamie Proctor, before Rory Boulding restored parity quarter of a hour later.

Three Preston goals in 17 minutes either side of half time appeared to leave the home side cruising to victory.

Neilson netting twice in three minutes in the matches closing stages though to set up a tense finish, but Preston's young side hung on to deny the Bantams a last four berth.

The match itself started at an electric pace, with both sides keen to make an early impression.

With barely five minutes on the clock, it was Preston who gained that early advantage and stuck first in the match.

A low Danny Mayor corner was allowed to bounce all the way through to Jamie Proctor, who sidefooted past Jon McLaughlin from close range.

City's first serious effort on goal came five minutes later when the Boulding brothers combined.

Rory Boulding wrestled possession off Sam Hart before delivering a flighted cross, which Michael Boulding could only poke just over the bar with the striker at full stretch

The brothers linked together moments later when Rory cut the ball back from the byline to allow Michael a shot on goal, which in the end was deflected narrowly wide by the foot of Dominic Collins.

From the resulting corner, Louis Horne flashed a glancing header only inches off target.

Mayor came equally as close to finding the target with a strike that whistled just past McLaughlin's far post from Preston's next attack.

At the match approached the 20 minute mark, the Bantams worked themselves level in the tie through Rory Boulding.

Rory Boulding found himself in a battle with Connor McLaughlin to chase down Andrew Villermann's searching ball down the channel.

As Boulding used his strength to out-muscle McLaughlin, he was allowed the time and space inside the Preston penalty area to gain his composure before slotting past Dominic Comrie.

The Bantams own McLaughlin had to be alert moments later to deny George Miller with a smart save down to his left when the Preston midfielder had been played into space inside the Bantams penalty box.

Just past the half hour mark, Scott Neilson must have thought for a brief moment that he had a golden opportunity to grab the Bantams the lead.

The Bradford winger beat the offside and Comrie to a long Jonathan Bateson clearance, but he couldn't fully control the ball and it ran out of play before he had chance to turn it into the empty net.

From City's next attack, Michael Boulding was inches away from sliding a Rory Boulding cross into a gapping goal, as the ball was just deflected from his path as he dived in.

From the corner that followed, Villermann somehow headed over from poink blank range at the far post.

City were made to pay for that miss when North End re-took the lead moments after.

Proctor was on hand to tee up the on-rushing Miller, who firmly sidefooted the ball past McLaughlin from eight yards out.

It got even worse for the Bantams within minutes when a bouncing ball in the City area fell into the path of Michael McLellan, who slotted into the far corner past McLaughlin despairing dive.

It could even have been four in first half injury time as Proctor drove into the side-netting after good work on the Preston left by Hart.

Bradford made one change at the interval, Ryan Harrison replacing Michael Boulding. The Bantams striker did appear to have taken a knock in the first period, so it may have been a precautionary sub.

Now joined by Leon Osborne in attack, Rory Boulding continued to take his shots on when possible, with one in particular rattling into Comrie side-netting from an angle.

With just under an hour played, however, the match was realistically ended as a contest.

Mayor grabbed Preston's fourth in splendid fashion as he crashed in a fierce drive from distance that flew past McLauglin's outstretched hand.

Midway through the second period, Osborne efforts for the night came to an end as he made way for Luke Dean.

Preston were now popping the ball around with ease, comfortable in the knowledge that their passage to the semi's appeared to be almost secured. To their credit, the Bantams refused to buckle despite the one sided scoreline.

Having already grabbed one eye-catching goal, Mayor went in search for another as he ran at the Bantams defence. The Preston midfielder surged past Phil Cutler and into the Bantams penalty area, but could only fire wide with only McLaughlin to beat.

Neilson's evening threatened to end on a sour note as he got involved in a confrontation with Proctor. The pair had to be pulled away, but referee Bankes managed to calm the situation with nothing more than a stern word to both of them.

City made their third and final sub of the evening as Rory Carson took the place of Luke Sharry in midfield.

As the match entered its final quarter, Rory Boulding a promising opening to double his and the Bantams account for the evening.

Villermann's cross sat up nicely for Boulding, but the Bradford striker could only slice his left footed half volley high and wide when he had time to produce better.

With time running out, City managed to at least pull one goal back through Neilson.

Sub Carson slipped in the Bantams winger behind the Preston defence and the former Cambridge City man finished the move well by placing the ball through Comrie's legs.

Neilson made things even more interesting only moments later when he showed sharp thinking to beat Comrie at his near post with a quickly taken free kick to leave City only trailing by only one.

Despite a tense finish, the Bantams couldn't complete a great comeback and were forced to exit the tournament.

PRESTON NORTH END	BRADFORD CITY
1 Dominic Comrie	1 Jon McLaughlin
2 Connor McLaughlin	2 Jonathan Bateson
3 Sam Hart	3 Andrew Villermann
4 George Miller	4 Chris Brandon
5 Daniel Devine	5 Phil Cutler
6 Dominic Collins	6 Louis Horne
7 Danny Mayor	7 Scott Neilson
8 Adam Barton	8 Luke Sharry
9 Michael McLellan	9 Michael Boulding
10 Jamie Proctor	10 Rory Boulding
11 Tom Owens	11 Leon Osborne
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
12 Seanan Clucas	12 Rory Carson for 8 (77)
14 Scott Leather	13 Matthew Convey
15 Scott Davidson for 4 (74)	14 Ryan Harrison for 9 (46)
16 Bailey Wright for 6 (81)	15 Curtis Collantine
17 Ryan McGreevy for 10 (77)	16 Luke Dean for 11 (70)

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee	P Bankes
Assistant Referee	M Parker
Assistant Referee	J Waters
Fourth Official	R Holmes

GOALSCORERS:
PRESTON NORTH END	BRADFORD CITY
Proctor (5)	R Boulding (20)
Miller (40)	Neilson (86, 89)
McLellan (44)
Mayor (57)