09-04-2018, 14:59
Once more to the last chance saloon we go, anything else less than a win will mean we can kiss goodbye to our slim chances of going into the end of season competition.
Always a decent atmosphere against United as they always bring loads in good or bad times for them, only had one change of manager this season with Paul Heckingbottom taking over from Thomas Christiansen following a series of poor performances.
Like us they have also had a poor disciplinary record having had a few players sent off including Beradi on Saturday against Sunderland.
They have some talented individuals Siaz and Hernandez whilst at the back they have Jansson who I think is a really decent player. United seem to have had trouble with the goalkeeping spot, Lonergan and Weilwald have played in the majority of the games with the latter being severely error prone, between the sticks at the moment is youngster Biley Peacock-Farrell who seems to be doing a decent job.
Heckingbottom has blooded other youngsters in recent matches but suspect he will spend the summer overhauling the squadn having basically inhering the last eight managers players.
We have yet to beat a Heckingbottom side and also have not taken three points from the Yorkshire side since we returned to the Championship.
As for us simples just put the ball in the net nothing more nothing less, we lacked a bit of spark in the first half on Saturday and personally think Harrop should be in the starting eleven possible return for Clarke to bring a bit more experience to the side. Time to bold nothing to lose.
Stat Attack: Leeds United
We welcome the fifth of this season’s visitors from Yorkshire as Leeds United arrive at Deepdale for the 25th time for a league match, making this our 50th meeting in all in the competition.
Leeds have been infrequent visitors, with those 24 previous meetings spread over more than 90 years since they first turned up here in 1925.
There is some symmetry in their record, as the most recent game here repeated the scoreline in that first game, both resulting in 4-1 defeats for North End. Fortunately, we have had much the better of the contests in between those two heavy defeats, with 13 wins and five draws outweighing the additional four victories our guests have claimed.
There was a 40 year gap in games between our clubs here from 1964 until 2004 and it was to be another two years before we finally claimed all the points for the first time in 42 years.
We have twice scored five goals in a match in this fixture, winning by 5-1 in 1927 and 5-0 in 1936, whilst we have also triumphed by 4-1 in 1962 and 2006. With an aggregate of 77 goals and only one goalless draw, the odds on neither team scoring today must be pretty long.
United are not the only side from the city – or indeed Elland Road – that we have met in league action. United formed in 1919 after the Football League forced Leeds City to disband after making illegal payments to players during the First World War. Leeds City joined the league in 1905 and faced North End twice at Deepdale, both of which we won. After City were forced out of business, United took their place in the league and also moved into City’s former Elland Road ground.
Numerous players have played for both clubs, with several members of our successful side of the early 2000s making the move east, in David Healy, Richard Cresswell and Eddie Lewis and they were subsequently joined by Sean Gregan and Andy Lonergan.
Neil Kilkenny and Jermaine Beckford numbered Leeds amongst their former clubs and going further back in time, Frank Worthington and Clive Clark wore both versions of our clubs’ white shirts. Of our current squad, Paul Huntington spent two years at Elland Road after leaving Newcastle United, during which time he made 32 appearances and scored three goals.
On This Date
Our regular left back in the late 1960 and early 1970s, John Ritchie, was born on this date in 1944. From Ashington in Northumberland, which was also the birthplace of the Charlton brothers and the Milburn footballing family, John joined us from Port Vale in 1967 and was a fixture of the side for the next five years, despite suffering regular knee injuries that saw all four cartilages removed.
Described at all three of his league clubs as ‘hard and uncompromising’, he also managed to score from over forty yards for both Port Vale and North End, his example for North End coming in a 3-0 win over Watford in August 1969. He left for Bradford City in 1972 and died in 2012, having worked as a prison officer after ending his playing career.
Scottish winger Kevin Magee, who spent 18 months at Deepdale in the 1990s, has his 47th birthday today.
Adam Barton made his North End debut on this date in 2010 as a promising midfielder. He made 58 appearances for us before moving to Coventry but his career here was interrupted by a bad leg break in 2012. He subsequently played for Fleetwood and Portsmouth and is one of several former North Enders playing in Scotland, Adam being on the books of Partick Thistle.
We have played 17 previous home games on this date, losing only once whilst winning ten and drawing six.
Notable matches include 4-0 wins over Wolves (1893), Gillingham (1976) and Mansfield (1990). We also overcame West Bromwich Albion by 4-1 on this date in 1937 to reach that season’s FA Cup Final.
Frank Becton scored his fourth hat-trick of the season in the 1893 win over Wolves, whilst Steve Harper recorded his only treble for the club as we overcame Mansfield in the 1990 fixture.
Last Five Games At Deepdale
Preston North End 1 (Vermijl) Leeds United 4 (Roofe, Sacko, Doukara, Hernandez), 26th December 2016
Preston North End 1 (Hugill) Leeds United 1 (Wood (pen)), 7th May 2016
Preston North End 1 (Hume) Leeds United 2 (Kilkenny, Paynter), 8th March 2011
Preston North End 4 (Dichio, Pugh, Nugent, Neal) Leeds United 1 (Healy), 31st October 2006
Preston North End 0 Leeds United 2 (Hulse, Richardson), 8th May 2006
Ref Watch: Leeds United
It is a year to the week since Lee Probert last took charge of a Preston North End game as the match official.
The experienced Premier League official is the referee for the clash with Leeds United, having also been the man with the whistle for another clash with a West Yorkshire outfit, away at Huddersfield, his first game in charge at the John Smith’s Stadium last April.
This is the Wiltshire referee’s ninth game in charge of North End since his joined the league’s lists back in the 2003/04 season; the last of which before that clash at the Terriers, being at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane in January 2015, when the Lilywhites won an FA Cup fourth round replay 3-1.
Over the years he has refereed European games and international matches, so is a very well-respected official, who this season have taken charge of 26 games, issuing 46 cautions and five red cards.
He has taken charge of one other Leeds game this season, their 3-1 defeat at Leicester City in the fourth round of the EFL Cup back in October.
An interesting fact is that Lee was the referee when the Lilywhites played at QPR in February 2005 in the first of the modern day Gentry Day fixtures, former PNE skipper Chris Lucketti and David Nugent scoring in the 2-1 win at Loftus Road and Chris is back at Deepdale for tonight’s game.
Always a decent atmosphere against United as they always bring loads in good or bad times for them, only had one change of manager this season with Paul Heckingbottom taking over from Thomas Christiansen following a series of poor performances.
Like us they have also had a poor disciplinary record having had a few players sent off including Beradi on Saturday against Sunderland.
They have some talented individuals Siaz and Hernandez whilst at the back they have Jansson who I think is a really decent player. United seem to have had trouble with the goalkeeping spot, Lonergan and Weilwald have played in the majority of the games with the latter being severely error prone, between the sticks at the moment is youngster Biley Peacock-Farrell who seems to be doing a decent job.
Heckingbottom has blooded other youngsters in recent matches but suspect he will spend the summer overhauling the squadn having basically inhering the last eight managers players.
We have yet to beat a Heckingbottom side and also have not taken three points from the Yorkshire side since we returned to the Championship.
As for us simples just put the ball in the net nothing more nothing less, we lacked a bit of spark in the first half on Saturday and personally think Harrop should be in the starting eleven possible return for Clarke to bring a bit more experience to the side. Time to bold nothing to lose.
Stat Attack: Leeds United
We welcome the fifth of this season’s visitors from Yorkshire as Leeds United arrive at Deepdale for the 25th time for a league match, making this our 50th meeting in all in the competition.
Leeds have been infrequent visitors, with those 24 previous meetings spread over more than 90 years since they first turned up here in 1925.
There is some symmetry in their record, as the most recent game here repeated the scoreline in that first game, both resulting in 4-1 defeats for North End. Fortunately, we have had much the better of the contests in between those two heavy defeats, with 13 wins and five draws outweighing the additional four victories our guests have claimed.
There was a 40 year gap in games between our clubs here from 1964 until 2004 and it was to be another two years before we finally claimed all the points for the first time in 42 years.
We have twice scored five goals in a match in this fixture, winning by 5-1 in 1927 and 5-0 in 1936, whilst we have also triumphed by 4-1 in 1962 and 2006. With an aggregate of 77 goals and only one goalless draw, the odds on neither team scoring today must be pretty long.
United are not the only side from the city – or indeed Elland Road – that we have met in league action. United formed in 1919 after the Football League forced Leeds City to disband after making illegal payments to players during the First World War. Leeds City joined the league in 1905 and faced North End twice at Deepdale, both of which we won. After City were forced out of business, United took their place in the league and also moved into City’s former Elland Road ground.
Numerous players have played for both clubs, with several members of our successful side of the early 2000s making the move east, in David Healy, Richard Cresswell and Eddie Lewis and they were subsequently joined by Sean Gregan and Andy Lonergan.
Neil Kilkenny and Jermaine Beckford numbered Leeds amongst their former clubs and going further back in time, Frank Worthington and Clive Clark wore both versions of our clubs’ white shirts. Of our current squad, Paul Huntington spent two years at Elland Road after leaving Newcastle United, during which time he made 32 appearances and scored three goals.
On This Date
Our regular left back in the late 1960 and early 1970s, John Ritchie, was born on this date in 1944. From Ashington in Northumberland, which was also the birthplace of the Charlton brothers and the Milburn footballing family, John joined us from Port Vale in 1967 and was a fixture of the side for the next five years, despite suffering regular knee injuries that saw all four cartilages removed.
Described at all three of his league clubs as ‘hard and uncompromising’, he also managed to score from over forty yards for both Port Vale and North End, his example for North End coming in a 3-0 win over Watford in August 1969. He left for Bradford City in 1972 and died in 2012, having worked as a prison officer after ending his playing career.
Scottish winger Kevin Magee, who spent 18 months at Deepdale in the 1990s, has his 47th birthday today.
Adam Barton made his North End debut on this date in 2010 as a promising midfielder. He made 58 appearances for us before moving to Coventry but his career here was interrupted by a bad leg break in 2012. He subsequently played for Fleetwood and Portsmouth and is one of several former North Enders playing in Scotland, Adam being on the books of Partick Thistle.
We have played 17 previous home games on this date, losing only once whilst winning ten and drawing six.
Notable matches include 4-0 wins over Wolves (1893), Gillingham (1976) and Mansfield (1990). We also overcame West Bromwich Albion by 4-1 on this date in 1937 to reach that season’s FA Cup Final.
Frank Becton scored his fourth hat-trick of the season in the 1893 win over Wolves, whilst Steve Harper recorded his only treble for the club as we overcame Mansfield in the 1990 fixture.
Last Five Games At Deepdale
Preston North End 1 (Vermijl) Leeds United 4 (Roofe, Sacko, Doukara, Hernandez), 26th December 2016
Preston North End 1 (Hugill) Leeds United 1 (Wood (pen)), 7th May 2016
Preston North End 1 (Hume) Leeds United 2 (Kilkenny, Paynter), 8th March 2011
Preston North End 4 (Dichio, Pugh, Nugent, Neal) Leeds United 1 (Healy), 31st October 2006
Preston North End 0 Leeds United 2 (Hulse, Richardson), 8th May 2006
Ref Watch: Leeds United
It is a year to the week since Lee Probert last took charge of a Preston North End game as the match official.
The experienced Premier League official is the referee for the clash with Leeds United, having also been the man with the whistle for another clash with a West Yorkshire outfit, away at Huddersfield, his first game in charge at the John Smith’s Stadium last April.
This is the Wiltshire referee’s ninth game in charge of North End since his joined the league’s lists back in the 2003/04 season; the last of which before that clash at the Terriers, being at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane in January 2015, when the Lilywhites won an FA Cup fourth round replay 3-1.
Over the years he has refereed European games and international matches, so is a very well-respected official, who this season have taken charge of 26 games, issuing 46 cautions and five red cards.
He has taken charge of one other Leeds game this season, their 3-1 defeat at Leicester City in the fourth round of the EFL Cup back in October.
An interesting fact is that Lee was the referee when the Lilywhites played at QPR in February 2005 in the first of the modern day Gentry Day fixtures, former PNE skipper Chris Lucketti and David Nugent scoring in the 2-1 win at Loftus Road and Chris is back at Deepdale for tonight’s game.
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?