Memory match: Preston North End battle through the fog to beat Bristol City 2-0 in November 2008

It was a Saturday teatime kick-off and the mist rolled in to make spectating rather difficult.

An orange-coloured ball was rolled out to help with visibility and the officials could see all four corners of the pitch, so it was ‘game on’.

Stephen Elliott and Ross Wallace scored the goals to deliver the three points, and when PNE landed Liverpool in the FA Cup draw, it made for a good weekend.

Elliott was on the pitch as a first-half substitute for Neil Mellor who has crashed into an advertising board in the opening few minutes.

Mellor managed to battle on for a little while before he gave way to Elliott who stepped in and took his chance.

The Irish striker had been on the pitch just six minutes when he found the net.

Wallace doubled the lead in the second half but North End were pushed all the way by the Robins who played some decent football.

The visitors had the better of the opening stages, with Lilywhites keeper Andrew Lonergan having to make a series of saves.

Three times he denied City winger Michael McIndoe, tipping one of his shots on to the post.

Lonergan also made two slightly more routines saves from Dele Adebola.

It was a painful afternoon for Mellor when he slid into an advertising board, the damage being a gashed shin and jarred thigh.

The striker tried to run the pain off but was forced to admit defeat and give way to Elliott in the 24th minute.

By the half-hour mark, the substitute had put PNE in front in the gathering gloom.

Chris Sedgwick lobbed a pass out to Wallace on Preston’s left wing.

Wallace played a first-time ball into the box, Elliott getting in front of his marker to steer a shot through the legs of Robins goalkeeper Adriano Basso.

It was Wallace who turned from provider to scorer 11 minutes into the second half with a solo effort – helped by a couple of deflections.

Paul McKenna rolled a short free-kick into his path down the right wing.

The Scot cut inside on to his left foot and, from inside the ‘D’, hit a shot which hit Jamie McAllister on the foot and looped against Louis Carey’s shoulder before landing in the net.

After that Preston stepped on the gas, having the chances to increase their lead and put themselves out of sight of the visitors in the gathering gloom.

Three of those chances fell to Elliott, the best being a header which bounced along the goalline and out beyond the far post.

He also forced Basso into a decent save and put a shot wide from 12 yards.

Elliott wasn’t the only one to be slightly wasteful, his fellow substitute Jon Parkin lifting a shot over the bar from 12 yards.

At the time, Parkin was yet to break his goal duck in a Preston shirt after arriving from Stoke three months earlier.

The Beast’s luck in front of goal was to change for the better just a couple of weeks later when he scored the winner in successive games at Deepdale against Doncaster and Birmingham.

Back to this game and it was a relief to North End and indeed the Sky people when the referee blew the final whistle – the fog not having got any worse as the evening went on.

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