PNE 1 Morecambe 1

North End's reserves dropped points at home for the first time this season, but the big news for Preston followers was Paul McKenna's return from injury as he managed 90 minutes of action at Deepdale.

Despite eight months of rehabilitation and treatment on a troublesome groin injury, the central midfielder looked comfortable with the pace of the game and played a number of telling balls that will have warmed the hearts of his many admirers on a chilly autumn night.

Goals from Jamie Burns and Neil Mellor painted the picture of the result, but it was all about McKenna's return on a night when the result was relatively academic.

He was involved as the game's first sight of goal fell to Simon Whaley after he was presented with an opening through good build up play involving Brett Ormerod, Neil Mellor and the returning talisman, but Whaley's shot failed to trouble keeper Scott Davies.

The stopper with more to do in the opening exchanges was Andy Murphy, back at Deepdale after being recalled from his loan spell at Northwich Victoria and forced to make a save on the stretch after Dominic Collins nearly lobbed his own keeper under pressure from Aaron Taylor.

Neil Mellor should have added to his growing goal tally at the other end after being sent through by Nathan Fairhurst, but he dragged a left footed effort across the face of goal and harmlessly wide of target.

The lead eventually fell to Morecambe on 20 minutes - with the only member of the Shrimpers side to have been part of that fateful Carling Cup encounter delivering a further blow to North End. Left footed maestro Jamie Burns - a former Blackpool man no less - was the man doing the damage, curling a free kick over Murphy's wall which dipped into the bottom corner of the net.

PNE were harshly denied a leveller five minutes later, with Mellor seeing a close range strike chalked off. Whaley had done the hard work after dispossessing Jonathan Goulding and racing forward to fire in a low shot. Though the effort was similarly weak to his earlier effort, Davies couldn't quite bring the ball under control and Mellor looked to stab the ball past the keeper, but the referee deemed he'd stollen the ball from the keeper's grasp before tapping it home from just two yards.

Left footed strikes seemed to be causing the hosts the greatest concern, and Morecambe produced the next genuine opening of an end to end half hour. Paul Lloyd appeared to be going nowhere in an inside right channel, but quickly looked up and produced a looping, curling strike that nearly caught Murphy off guard. Fortunately the keeper showed his quality and tipped the ball over the top in acrobatic fashion.

Whenever North End went forward it felt like Groundhog Day, with numerous similar efforts going astray. With Whaley once again the provider, a neat through ball gave Ormerod something to chase, but in an attempt to get a quick shot away quickly he seemed to snatch at it with his left foot and dragged it wide as Mellor had done earlier. 

Whaley has shown a real willingness to work in many of the reserve team outings so far this season, and his latest second team outing was no exception. After Ormerod this time turned provider and creator of space, the left winger for the night ran onto the lay off at great pace, and brought a stinging parry out of Davies' gloves, with the keeper fortunate that the ball didn't loop over his own head - such was the ferocity of the strike. 

That stinging shot was followed up after the change of ends by a rasping effort from the Shrimpers - striker Jordan Banks beating Andy Murphy but not the upright as his ferocious shot rebounded back to safety.

The home side thought they'd levelled on the hour, but the referee spotted an infringement or two as Ormerod appeared to handle while jumping with keeper Davies, meaning that Mellor's follow-up finish was irrelivant.

However, the two combined to greater effect on 67 minutes, with Ormerod providing the service for Mellor to net yet another reserve team strike. The former Southampton man sent in a fine curling ball from the right flank and the former Liverpool striker met the left footed cross with a diving header from six yards that gave Davies no chance.

The game lost its way in the final twenty minutes, but there was still more to come from Preston. Though Morecambe saw plenty of the ball, their huff and puff didn't result in any clear chances, and North End came closer to the winning goal with a Matty Mainwaring shot skimming narrowly wide and Mellor's rasping blast cannoning off the bar as honours ended even - and deservedly so.

PNE: Murphy, Adams, Aspin, Collins, St Ledger, McKenna, Mayor (sub Mainwaring 71), Fairhurst, Ormerod, Mellor, Whaley. Subs not used: Appiah, Thompson, Bloxam, McMahon.

Morecambe: Davies, Langford, Wisdom, Davies, Goulding, Burns, Lloyd, Dunn, Taylor (sub Mills 82), Banks (sub Poole 80), Jarvis. Subs not used: Farmer, Gall, McLuckie.

Hear the second half action live on Whites World - tune into PNE Live from 8pm. Make sure you contact Adrian Ward with all your thoughts via matchday@pne.com - if it's worth broadcasting, we will!