Bishop on mark
PRESTON NORTH END.. 1 STANLEY........................... 1
COLBY Bishop scored his first Stanley goal as the Reds drew 1-1 with Championship side Preston at the County Ground at Leyland.
The striker, who signed from Leamington for an undisclosed fee last week, leapt to head home Callum Johnson’s cross in a good workout ahead of the League One campaign.
John Coleman put out a strong side to face Preston with new signings Bishop, Joe Maguire and Lamine Kaba Sherif all starting.
Stanley were up against former Reds loan striker Louis Moult in the North End starting XI with exAccrington players Connor Ripley and Sean Maguire on the bench.
Moult was a threat in the opening minute but his goalbound shot was deflected clear and, from the resulting corner, Patrick Bauer headed over.
The Championship side created the better early openings and, in a frantic goalmouth scramble, Moult’s effort was blocked, the ball came out to Brad Potts, with Dimitar Evtimov pulling off a superb save, before Josh Harrop fired wide.
Evtimov was again in action from another goalmouth scramble as Preston looked for the opener.
Stanley grew into the game and Sean McConville came close to breaking the deadlock on the half-hour with a blistering shot from distance which North End keeper Declan Rudd had to dive to push away.
Paul Gallagher tried to catch Evtimov out from the halfway line but, with the keeper scrambling back, the midfielder’s shot was wide of the goal.
Preston opened the scoring on 40 minutes when defender Bauer, who played for Charlton against the Reds last sea
son, headed home from a Gallagher cross.
Stanley came close to an equaliser when Joe Maguire’s free kick found unmarked Mark Hughes at the far post but the defender couldn’t hit the target.
The Reds made a chance count on 45 minutes when Johnson wrong-footed the defender on the wing and his cross was perfect for Bishop.
Neither side made any changes at the interval with Moult hooking over early on.
The customary changes began during the second half while Ryan Ledson had a strike for Preston which was deflected over.
Ex-Reds striker Sean Maguire forced a strong save from Evtimov on 85 minutes as it remained all-square.
Meanwhile, Stanley have announced they will be partnering up with MatchDayInfo for the 2019/20 Sky Bet League One season as their new e-programme service provider.
MatchDayInfo is available to download on both iOS and Android devices, across smartphones and tablets.
Can’t make it to the game? On holiday? Travelling to the stadium? Doesn’t matter where you are in the world, purchase the programme through your Apple or Google account and enjoy all the content the club has to offer you.
Once purchased, the match day programme automatically saves in your archived section, allowing you to store all your favourite programmes from multiple sports and fixtures.
Daniel Bowerbank, Stanley’s Commercial Manager added: “The club is continuing to improve the match day experience for all fans who can attend the Wham Stadium throughout the season.
“As a club we realise that we have many fans around the world, some in which subscribe to our match day programme and we are looking to extend the opportunity to fans to get the programme on their mobile phone or electronic device whether they can attend the game or are an exile fan who wishes to read our match day content.”