Thanks to Rob Muskett for the report

During a drunken night out at WorldNet I had stupidly agreed to arrange a Raging Fever game at Morecambe. I thought I was saved when it transpired that they didn’t have a team, but John Matthews kindly arranged for us to play Preston, one of the best teams in the country, instead. Thanks for that John!

After a week of frantic negotiations, which included a debutant, Roger Woodhouse, a last minute loan signing from Spurs, we managed to get 11 players to agree to leave Oxford at 6.30 in the morning. Arriving at Preston, it seemed very much worth it as we realised that we would be playing on the first-team training pitch, which had been cut and watered especially for the occasion, and was just fantastic, although it did mean we could no longer blame the pitch for unforced errors. We also had the use of the changing rooms, which included a tactics board. This was just as well, as without any recognised strikers in the squad, or in fact team, and an abundance of defenders, I was forced into sticking James Simpson, who had yet to score for Fever, as a sole striker. Luckily, the use of the tactics board meant that he was able to understand just whereabouts on the pitch he needed to play.

Using a previously untried 4-4-1-1 formation, Fever kicked off and more than held their own in the opening exchanges, with the full backs Geoff and Roger ensuring that no crosses came in, and the centre-back pairing of Rob and Nick proving more than the equal of anything through the middle. Both sides had some half chances, with Danny Wells (playing in goal) doing well to head the ball over his bar, and James Simpson running the channels well, creating space for the Pear brothers (Nicky, Danny, and Toby) to burst forward. Indeed, Preston seemed perturbed by their lack of goals and made a very early substitution. This seemed to have the desired effect, as they took the lead after a neat interchange.

However, heads did not drop and we were soon level. Toby Pear finding space on the left wing, and instead of crossing, as Preston seemed to be expecting, he cut into the box and finished clinically past the keeper. Fever went on to finish the half strongly, with the defence not allowing Preston anywhere near the goal, and 1-1 was a fair reflection of the game. Steve, the Preston manager, commented that this was by far the toughest test they had faced this season.

Unfortunately, Danny Pear chose to ignore his Dad’s advice of not drinking too much water, and so when the second half kicked off he started to feel sick as Preston broke forward. Having broken up many of the attacks up to that point, the defence were somewhat surprised to see the midfielder ghost past him, which would hopefully explain the free header that the striker had as the cross came in.

Soon after it was 3-1. Danny Wells did well to stop a long-range shot, but the Preston striker reacted the quickest, and from a suspiciously offside position ran in to finish it off.

Fever kept working hard though, with Paul Lucas and James Longshaw getting up and down the wings to good effect, and Nicky, Toby, and James Simpson combining well up front. However, it was Danny Pear, now seemingly recovered, who got us back into the game. He went on a mazy run and struck a magnificent shot from 25 yards which went in off the crossbar.

With Fever scenting an upset they pushed forward again, and Toby and Nicky went close. Toby sent an excellent cross into the box but, with the keeper in no-man