The business end of the season is about to begin, still in with a slight chance of the play offs and technically not safe from the drop the first of the end of season games takes us to Deadwood to take on the Venky's and the plastic fans that support them. Having lived for 30 years between the two towns still harbour a grudge against the fair weather North Enders who when Uncle Jack and his money bought them the title suddenly became Rovers fans, a curse on those from the Lord Nelson in Clayton le Woods. Apparently they are £104 million in debt which does make me think that they have over spent ever so slightly. The build up has begun on social media where apparently it is our cup final(look at the league table and they may find that they are below us) Prior to the he game at our gaff Rovers changed manager and after winning at Deepdale their fans sang about promotion(not going to happen) Result wise Lambert started off well however results have been patchy over the last couple of months but they won last time out at Brentford even though they had Hanley sent off. Fans have accused Lambert of not having a plan B they tend to be a bit direct and tend to play for free kicks when they can pump balls in to their giant players. (Alehouse cack they play) Browne, Huntington should both be fit, Garner back from suspension, interesting selection poser for the boss with Doyle scoring twice in successive games from the subs bench. The away following will be the largest since Wigan away in 2000 with 6969 tickets sold for the trip, every ticket they gave us sold, it's fairly obvious with the away following that an epic fail is on the cards but less about Blackburn. Borrowed this from Twitter I read the news today, oh boy 7000 Preston fans in Blackburn Lancashire. (With apologies to the Beatles) This is the one although last time we played their we lost 6-0 they cheated. Not won there since 1980 time to break our barren run at Deadwood.
Well 36 years after our last victory at Blackburn we make it a joyous day for the 7000 travelling army of North End supporters who made the journey into the land of an ex Premier League club who are slipping down the leagues. As good as a result this was it should have been better after Rovers were reduced to 10 men when Duffy was sent off for denying a goal bound effort by handling the ball. North End started well but ominously Rovers were able to get down the flanks with ease and put some decent balls into the North End box, In a way it was not a surprise when Rovers led, Woods had gone on a lengthy run which eventually broke down, Rovers broke down the left and forced a corner, which has headed goalwards Lindegaard saved but the ball ended up with ex North End loanee Ward smashing the ball home, he celebrated in front of the away support always a mistake. North End were level within 10 minutes and Rovers were down to 10, not quite sure what happened down t'other end and my eyes are pap these days, but thought North End had scored but the goal had been disallowed as the flag had been raised, loads of confusion then red card flashed at Duffy and ball placed on spot, Garner did the rest. Advantage North End, two minutes before the break they were ahead, great work by Reach ball to the back post headed back towards goal and Hugill heads home, mass celebration in the Darwen End. Second half North End should have won at a canter missed some absolutely fantastic chances, Pearson set the tone by firing wide from 12 yards, with North End flittering chances away Rovers to their credit forced Lindegaard into action, an Akpan shot which might have been going in was well saved, Graham had another effort saved after a mistake by Wright. North End's final ball was often poor but when they did get through they were denied by the hard pressed Rovers defence in which Ward was having a super game, denying substitute Johnson with a well timed last ditch tackle four yards out. Beckford fired across goal when Hugill was unmarked two yards out. With North End failing to make the most of their chances Rovers began to lump the ball into the box and get some reward from it, Lindegaard doing well to save two headers indeed he had to pluck a dangerous header to safety with the virtual last kick of the game. Seen us play better would have been interesting if they had kept 11 on the pitch but they did not we win, goodbye Ewood mission accomplished. Blackburn Rovers 1 Preston North End 2 Att 21000 (Nowhere near that they did not have 14000 fans at that game) Blackburn boss Paul Lambert: aka the whinging twat "I'm disappointed to lose. It was an absolutely fantastic effort with 10 men. "I thought we started the game brilliantly, were well on top, got the goal. The penalty changes the course of the game, but it should never have been a penalty. "Danny Graham was fouled at the edge of the box so the ball should have never been at that end of the pitch, because Danny has nutmegged the guy. You can see with Danny's reaction that he's definitely been fouled. "I thought today, he got more calls wrong than he got right. If there's a delegate here or somebody watching it, maybe they might get a phone call in the morning." Preston manager Simon Grayson: "He's done well, Jordan. He's a handful. He knows what he needs to do. "I'm delighted for him. It's a great ball from Gally (Paul Gallagher). He knows where to put it and the areas for people to get into. "It wasn't an easy finish but he's delighted and we were all delighted to see it hit the back of the net. "I think it (the sending off) was the correct decision. They started the game better than us. I'm disappointed we gave away the goal we did but it's handball on the line and the referee made the right decision."
