​Early goals gave Magpies a FA Cup mountain to climb

​That’s the view of boss Andy Preece after he watched his team well-beaten 4-1 at National League North leaders South Shields.

It was always going to be a stiff task facing the Mariners – who have yet to taste defeat this season – on their own patch at the 1st Cloud Arena.

But that task was made even harder when the Magpies fell 2-0 behind early courtesy of goals which Preece described as avoidable.

And although some of their tactics worked against the hosts during the tie, ultimately they were left with an uphill battle against their full-time opponents.

"The annoying thing is with how the game, there were moments in the game where some of the things we were trying to do worked but we just didn’t give ourselves time in the game going 2-0 down in the first 20-odd minutes,” Preece told ChorleyFC TV.

"It was not through the ways that you would expect them to score. (The first goal) we’ve dealt with the cross, we’ve headed it out and Joe (Nolan) is on the edge of the box and nine times out of 10, he will clear that but he takes a touch and gets it nicked off him.

"The second goal, we had good possession of the ball, they counter with a ball over the top, George Pratt gets back and there’s a tangle of legs and nine time out of 10, a penalty is going to get given.

"So we were 2-0 down before we had even got a foothold in the game.”

By a quirk of the fixture list, Chorley, who are third in the NL North, are back in the North East next weekend to face the Mariners in what will be a top-of-the-table clash.

With that game in mind and also in order to freshen the team up, Preece made five changes to his starting XI with goalscorer Harry Ibbitson taking his chance.

"I thought Harry was excellent, I thought he was superb,” said Preece. “He the line really well and was a constant threat.

"He is getting better and better for us, more and more confident. That’s exciting for us because at the minute we are short on strikers.”