Brown: Big week ahead
Preston North End boss Phil Brown hopes this week's cup engagements will provide a welcome tonic to his club's dismal league form.
The Lilywhites were one of the early season pacesetters in League One, but have followed up a run of seven straight league wins with a stretch of eight matches without victory.
An FA Cup first round meeting with the Shrimpers now awaits Brown's team at the weekend, after Tuesday night's Johnstone's Paint Trophy northern quarter-final against the Dale which brought a 4-2 win on penalties after the 90 minutes brought a 1-1 draw, hardly the form to have the League Two league leaders shaking in fear of the long trip up the M6. (Report below)
Brown told Sky Sports News before the Rochdale tie: "We're only a couple of steps away from Wembley. This is a big fixture. The main thing is to get a win under our belt. That's the most important part - the confidence levels and what that will bring to the football club. Hopefully the run of seven games will come flooding back. Then we've got an important game in the FA Cup and you want to get to the third round, you want to get a big club, you want to get someone at Deepdale so you can give a good account of yourselves - so they're both very important games."
Barton: On the scoresheet for Preston
So on to the first of those 'big fixtures' with the big German loanee Thorsten Stuckmann, he could be a pain at the weekend, saving three penalties to earn Preston a 4-2 JPT shoot-out victory at Spotland following a 1-1 draw.
The victory sent Phil Brown's men into the regional semi-finals, who knows, we could play them in the final at Wembley!
The visitors finally clinched it as Stuckmann saved spot-kicks from Andrew Tutte, Ashley Grimes and Brian Barry-Murphy.
In the first half, young Manchester City striker Harry Bunn went close with a sharp turn and shot inside the Preston penalty area. But after that the visitors took charge.
Juvhel Tsoumou should have opened the scoring when he met a fine cross from on-loan Southampton striker Jonathon Forte only to head wide from four yards out. But Brown's men were in front soon afterwards when Forte's header dropped invitingly for Adam Barton to rifle a rising shot beyond David Lucas.
It could have been worse for the hosts had Gary Jones not been on hand to clear Forte's header off the line before the break.
Rochdale upped their game after the break and levelled after 53 minutes with a fine effort from home debutant Bunn. He collected Barry-Murphy's free-kick and turned inside two defenders before slamming a low drive past Stuckmann. But the keeper was to have the last laugh on the night, pulling off three saves in the shoot-out.
The S24 Report; U's v Shrimpers: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk
JPT Regional Quarter-Finals
Northern section:
Southern section:
Swindon 1 AFC Wimbledon 1 (3-1 on pens)
Brentford 6 Bournemouth 0
Cheltenham 0 Barnet 2
Oxford 0 Southend 1
Brentford 6 Bournemouth 0
Cheltenham 0 Barnet 2
Oxford 0 Southend 1
Chesterfield play Tranmere Rovers Wednesday evening.
(Click on the games for full match reports from www.skysports.com including the FIFA poppy row, the appeal failed!)