City finish their pre-season tour in style.
A small party of Southport Blues were in the crowd as City signed off their pre-season tour with an emphatic 7-1 win over Tranmere at Prenton Park. The match was a testimonial game in aid of former City keeper Eric Nixon and featured a warm-up match between former Tranmere players and team made up of former City and Liverpool players.

The main game started with City at almost full strength. Summer signings Nicolas Anelka, Sylvain Distin and Marc Vivien Foe had good games with Anelka leaving many fans marvelling at his pace and skill. It was Anelka that opened the scoring for City and in doing so he silenced a small section of the Tranmere crowd that had taken it upon themselves to to boo this highly talented and entertaining footballer. City starlet Chris Shuker was the next to score with a well taken goal from inside the box. Shuker was impressive throughout the game and must surely have given Kevin Keegan something to think about. Anelka scored again before half time to leave City with a comfortable lead.

After the break a much changed City side came out with a point to prove. Goals from Shaun Wright-Philips and Kevin Horlock helped to further demoralise Tranmere but it was the Algerian trialist Keram Kerkar that really caught the eye. His first goal was a superb 25 yard shot with the outside of his foot that left the keeper with no chance. His second came after a solo run from inside his own half and left many fans asking the manager to sign him up there and then!

A party of Southport Blues made the short journey to Deepdale to watch Ryan Kidd's testimonial. There was a quite a party atmosphere inside the ground as thousands of City fans had turned up for the game.

Jon Macken made his return to Preston after his £5 million move to Maine Road and was jeered by a section of the home crowd. However, this did not prevent him from scoring the opening goal for City. Laurent Charvet came on in the second half and showed some good touches and a willingness to get forward that he had not shown previously. This resulted in Charvet scoring and hopefully he has gained a bit more confidence to play the type of football we were promised when he signed for City. Chris Shuker had another good game up front and increased his chances of making the first team squad on a regular basis by scoring the third goal for City.