21-09-2024, 09:02
While the preparation for Sunday’s Lancashire derby against Blackburn Rovers has been business as usual, Paul Heckingbottom hopes the match will feel different for his players.
When they walk out at Deepdale shortly before 12pm, they’ll be greeted by a near-enough sold-out stadium, who will no doubt get right behind the team.
Buoyed too by an impressive victory over top-flight Fulham in the Carabao Cup during the week, there should be no lack of confidence heading into the weekend.
Hecky said: “Derbies aren’t what they used to be. They tend to get talked about a lot now and they can fizzle out, but I hope it’s different on Sunday.
“I hope the energy comes from the crowd. I hope the performance is top drawer from us. I hope the referee manages the game really well and allows it to flow and allows both teams to have a go at producing something good for the fans.
“It’s our opportunity to put in a good performance for them and try and get them all there at the next home game and try and sell it out again. We want to do that.
“The fans have been great. We’ve had two home games now and three away, and the away support’s been first class, so it’s something we want to keep building on. We want the fans to enjoy what they’re seeing and the two home games so far have been totally different, but they’ve gone home happy.”
The most recent of those matches was Tuesday’s Carabao Cup third round victory over Fulham, which broke the record for the longest shootout in the competition’s history.
There were a few bumps and bruises picked up in that game, and there may need to be late decisions made surrounding the fitness of a few players.
Hecky said: “Hughesy’s (Andrew Hughes) still not trained today. Milly (Milutin Osmajić) has trained a little bit but we’re just looking after him a bit, so they should be fit and raring to go tomorrow.
“Will Keane’s been back in training today which is good and obviously Pat Bauer hasn’t trained. We’re waiting to see the news from the surgeon regarding that.
“As we’ve done in the games, we’ve been able to change the team about depending on who we play, and change the team about during a game which is always helpful.
“From my point of view, it’s good to know what you’ve got when you’re making changes within a game, and more often than not probably at least in four of the five games I feel like we’ve strengthened when we made the subs and that’s been really important for us.”
Rovers will arrive at Deepdale still unbeaten in Championship action so far this season, sitting third in the table after five matches.
Since retaining their place in the second tier on the final day of the previous campaign, John Eustace has lost his top scorer Sammie Szmodics, although summer signing Yuki Ohashi seems to have picked up the goalscoring baton, having netted five times already.
“They’ve been good,” said Hecky, on Blackburn’s start. “It was a tough job last year for them to stay up, but they managed to do it.
“John’s recruited well this summer, adding lots of experience for this league and they seem to have built on what they had. The last couple of seasons I thought they were dangerous going forward and a little bit weak at the back in terms of leaking chances which seemed to cost them towards the end of the season.
“Last season, towards the end, they tried to tighten things up and got some really strong results away from home, and you thought they’d kick on, but then they got dragged back into it and stayed up towards the end of the season.
“This season they seemed to have maintained that threat at the top end of the pitch and being a bit stronger without the ball as well, and that’s why they’re up near the top.”
PLASTIC VIEW
John Eustace has revealed he has a fully fit squad to choose from, with only Scott Wharton ruled out of the trip to Preston North End on Sunday.
Wharton, a long-term absentee, isn’t expected to be back in action until the beginning of pre-season, but a number of first-team players are back available.
Makhtar Gueye returns after sitting out the win against Bristol City due to suspension, whilst Callum Brittain, Harry Pickering, Arnor Sigurdsson and Harry Leonard are all ready to go after suffering with injury issues and illness.
And ahead of the latest Lancashire derby, which comes just weeks after the clash against Burnley and Turf Moor, Eustace has said training’s been intense ahead of the games at Deepdale.
“We’re looking good and I think everyone’s available, which is great news,” the 44-year-old said to RoversTV ahead of Sunday’s showdown.
Harry Leonard training.jpg
“It’s about the squad, I’ve said that from day one, it’s about everyone playing a huge part over a 46-game season.
“It gives us good options and it’s good that we have lots of competition for places.
“Training’s been very intense and very competitive, which is what we want.
“You can see that togetherness growing and building day by day. It drives the standards and people can’t afford to have days off.
“They can’t afford to not train properly and we’re creating the right environment where people want to come in every day, have a good day of training every time and to be competitive," he added.
“There’s a real buzz around the place. The staff have been amazing and the players have all bought into what we want to do.
“Everyone’s ready to fight and scrap for Blackburn Rovers.”
When they walk out at Deepdale shortly before 12pm, they’ll be greeted by a near-enough sold-out stadium, who will no doubt get right behind the team.
Buoyed too by an impressive victory over top-flight Fulham in the Carabao Cup during the week, there should be no lack of confidence heading into the weekend.
Hecky said: “Derbies aren’t what they used to be. They tend to get talked about a lot now and they can fizzle out, but I hope it’s different on Sunday.
“I hope the energy comes from the crowd. I hope the performance is top drawer from us. I hope the referee manages the game really well and allows it to flow and allows both teams to have a go at producing something good for the fans.
“It’s our opportunity to put in a good performance for them and try and get them all there at the next home game and try and sell it out again. We want to do that.
“The fans have been great. We’ve had two home games now and three away, and the away support’s been first class, so it’s something we want to keep building on. We want the fans to enjoy what they’re seeing and the two home games so far have been totally different, but they’ve gone home happy.”
The most recent of those matches was Tuesday’s Carabao Cup third round victory over Fulham, which broke the record for the longest shootout in the competition’s history.
There were a few bumps and bruises picked up in that game, and there may need to be late decisions made surrounding the fitness of a few players.
Hecky said: “Hughesy’s (Andrew Hughes) still not trained today. Milly (Milutin Osmajić) has trained a little bit but we’re just looking after him a bit, so they should be fit and raring to go tomorrow.
“Will Keane’s been back in training today which is good and obviously Pat Bauer hasn’t trained. We’re waiting to see the news from the surgeon regarding that.
“As we’ve done in the games, we’ve been able to change the team about depending on who we play, and change the team about during a game which is always helpful.
“From my point of view, it’s good to know what you’ve got when you’re making changes within a game, and more often than not probably at least in four of the five games I feel like we’ve strengthened when we made the subs and that’s been really important for us.”
Rovers will arrive at Deepdale still unbeaten in Championship action so far this season, sitting third in the table after five matches.
Since retaining their place in the second tier on the final day of the previous campaign, John Eustace has lost his top scorer Sammie Szmodics, although summer signing Yuki Ohashi seems to have picked up the goalscoring baton, having netted five times already.
“They’ve been good,” said Hecky, on Blackburn’s start. “It was a tough job last year for them to stay up, but they managed to do it.
“John’s recruited well this summer, adding lots of experience for this league and they seem to have built on what they had. The last couple of seasons I thought they were dangerous going forward and a little bit weak at the back in terms of leaking chances which seemed to cost them towards the end of the season.
“Last season, towards the end, they tried to tighten things up and got some really strong results away from home, and you thought they’d kick on, but then they got dragged back into it and stayed up towards the end of the season.
“This season they seemed to have maintained that threat at the top end of the pitch and being a bit stronger without the ball as well, and that’s why they’re up near the top.”
PLASTIC VIEW
John Eustace has revealed he has a fully fit squad to choose from, with only Scott Wharton ruled out of the trip to Preston North End on Sunday.
Wharton, a long-term absentee, isn’t expected to be back in action until the beginning of pre-season, but a number of first-team players are back available.
Makhtar Gueye returns after sitting out the win against Bristol City due to suspension, whilst Callum Brittain, Harry Pickering, Arnor Sigurdsson and Harry Leonard are all ready to go after suffering with injury issues and illness.
And ahead of the latest Lancashire derby, which comes just weeks after the clash against Burnley and Turf Moor, Eustace has said training’s been intense ahead of the games at Deepdale.
“We’re looking good and I think everyone’s available, which is great news,” the 44-year-old said to RoversTV ahead of Sunday’s showdown.
Harry Leonard training.jpg
“It’s about the squad, I’ve said that from day one, it’s about everyone playing a huge part over a 46-game season.
“It gives us good options and it’s good that we have lots of competition for places.
“Training’s been very intense and very competitive, which is what we want.
“You can see that togetherness growing and building day by day. It drives the standards and people can’t afford to have days off.
“They can’t afford to not train properly and we’re creating the right environment where people want to come in every day, have a good day of training every time and to be competitive," he added.
“There’s a real buzz around the place. The staff have been amazing and the players have all bought into what we want to do.
“Everyone’s ready to fight and scrap for Blackburn Rovers.”
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?