05-02-2021, 09:48
The transfer window is finally closed, all focus is on the football and the run to the end of the season begins with North End taking on Paul Warne’s Rotherham United at Deepdale this Saturday.
And it was our visitors this weekend who took the points back in November as well, despite an equaliser – his first goal for the club – from Ryan Ledson, our hosts at the New York Stadium came away with a 2-1 win.
And they come into the game full of confidence, a bit like North End did back in the Autumn; then we had just gone to Reading and won 3-0, whilst this time it is Rotherham who had three unanswered goals in midweek, beating Wayne Rooney’s Derby County with a trio of strikes in the final quarter of an hour.
Team News
Alex Neil will give a late check on Sean Maguire, who missed the last two games, but has no new injury problems and has all of his new recruits available for selection.
Long-term casualties Patrick Bauer (Achilles), Declan Rudd (knee) and Louis Moult (ACL) are the only definitive absentees.
Paul Warne is likely to again be without goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, who is isolating, but Viktor Johansson came in against Derby County and kept a clean sheet.
He will have back on loan winger Florian Jozefzoon, who was unavailable to play against his parent club on Wednesday night, but Chieo Ogbene will be missing after going under the knife last Friday.
Match Officials
The match official for Saturday’s game is experienced referee Gavin Ward, who last took charge of a PNE game in our thrilling 3-2 win at AFC Bournemouth at the beginning of December.
Gavin, from Surrey, is in his 14th season on the EFL lists, and he has officiated the Lilywhites on ten previous occasions including last season’s 5-1 home thrashing of Barnsley and the 2-1 win over Luton Town.
He has also refereed Saturday’s visitors once this season so far, their 2-0 defeat at Watford a week after PNE’s win at the Vitality Stadium. That was one of his 16 games so far this season, having issued 40 cautions and three red cards.
He will be assisted by Nick Greenhalgh and Nik Barnard and Martin Woods will be the fourth official.
And it was our visitors this weekend who took the points back in November as well, despite an equaliser – his first goal for the club – from Ryan Ledson, our hosts at the New York Stadium came away with a 2-1 win.
And they come into the game full of confidence, a bit like North End did back in the Autumn; then we had just gone to Reading and won 3-0, whilst this time it is Rotherham who had three unanswered goals in midweek, beating Wayne Rooney’s Derby County with a trio of strikes in the final quarter of an hour.
Team News
Alex Neil will give a late check on Sean Maguire, who missed the last two games, but has no new injury problems and has all of his new recruits available for selection.
Long-term casualties Patrick Bauer (Achilles), Declan Rudd (knee) and Louis Moult (ACL) are the only definitive absentees.
Paul Warne is likely to again be without goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, who is isolating, but Viktor Johansson came in against Derby County and kept a clean sheet.
He will have back on loan winger Florian Jozefzoon, who was unavailable to play against his parent club on Wednesday night, but Chieo Ogbene will be missing after going under the knife last Friday.
Match Officials
The match official for Saturday’s game is experienced referee Gavin Ward, who last took charge of a PNE game in our thrilling 3-2 win at AFC Bournemouth at the beginning of December.
Gavin, from Surrey, is in his 14th season on the EFL lists, and he has officiated the Lilywhites on ten previous occasions including last season’s 5-1 home thrashing of Barnsley and the 2-1 win over Luton Town.
He has also refereed Saturday’s visitors once this season so far, their 2-0 defeat at Watford a week after PNE’s win at the Vitality Stadium. That was one of his 16 games so far this season, having issued 40 cautions and three red cards.
He will be assisted by Nick Greenhalgh and Nik Barnard and Martin Woods will be the fourth official.
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?