Game #36 sees our rejuvenated Bluebirds make the long trip up to Lancashire for a visit to Deepdale and Preston North End. One can’t help when thinking of the Lillywhites having a momentary pause to consider Tom Finney. What an ambassador for PNE & football in general with 473 appearances and 210 goals for Preston, as well as 30 goals in 76 games for England. The club have named a stand after him at Deepdale and the stadium sits on Sir Tom Finney Way, a fitting tribute to such a giant of the game. I recall visiting Deepdale back in the late 80's. They still had a really quaint stand (an Archibald Leitch design I believe) and the dreaded plastic pitch. Since then Deepdale has undergone significant transformation and, in my opinion, actually looks like an aesthetically pleasing ground. The Sir Tom Finney Stand - Good, but not a patch on our Ninian Stand Extension and "Ayatollah" Artwork. Anyhow, enough niceties, this game sees our in form Bluebirds (3 wins in 4) heading up north to take on a Preston side that continue to look comfortable in mid-table but who’s home form has actually been worse than our own, with just 4 wins from 18 home games, the last 2 of which were against struggling Wigan a few weeks ago and Swansea back in November, however, with a defensive record also akin to our own (38 goals conceded) they are no pushovers. The game at the CCS earlier this season saw us play out a 0-0 draw, but the score-line was completely unrepresentative of a game that saw the Bluebirds completely outplay Preston, amassing 22 attempts at goal to North Ends 2, but alas, of those 22 attempts, only 2 were on target (0 for PNE) meaning a frustrating afternoon for the home crowd with little to get excited about. Last seasons corresponding game saw the Bluebirds run out 1-2 winners at Deepdale with a maiden goal from James Collins adding to a Mark McGuinness equaliser after City went behind in just the 2nd minute. Just like the Abominable Snowman or the Loch Ness Monster, if you weren't there to see it, it's hard to believe it existed, but yes, the was a James Collins goal in a Cardiff City shirt! Our recent record against Preston is actually quite impressive with a current run of 7 unbeaten in the league (4 wins) plus an FA cup win in between too. Certainly a far cry from the 2009 6-0 horror show that ultimately helped cost us a play-off place that season. John "The Beast" Parkin showing that turn of speed that convinced Cardiff to buy him. This race was apparently held not long after he'd scored in the 6-0 drubbing of the Bluebirds as part of his fitness test following Dave Jones's apparently disparaging comments about the strikers physique. Early Bluebird Team News The big news this week of course is a suspension for Ryan Allsop meaning a rare run out between the sticks for Jak Alnwick. That aside, Callum Robinson is still sidelined along with the other long term absentees, but according to Sabri Lamouchi, everyone else is fit and raring to go; “Other than Callum Robinson, everyone else is available and ready for the game. They all want to play, and this is a good problem for me, for sure." After his goal against Bristol City in the Severnside derby it would be a surprise to not see Sory Kabba keep his place. Likewise Jaden Philogene after his very bright showing. I'd imagine Rubin Colwill will again make the bench. Prutton & Co Predict Well, I suppose we should be thankful that the Sky duo have finally started to come around to the fact that we may just be starting to turn a bit of a corner… after weeks of predicting defeats the pundit pair are getting a few splinters in their butts and predicting a 1-1 for our travelling team. If my maths are correct (fractions were never my strong point), the bookies are tending to agree, with the following odds; Home Win 29/20 Draw 21/10 Away Win 2/1 Fun Fact Preston North End are the only club from the founder members of the Football League who have played continuously on the same ground. Deepdale has been the venue for soccer for over 135 years. Sharing The Love After covering several "obvious" candidates in the home thread, I was surprised to see a few more decent names that could still be listed, including a long standing goalkeeper, several decent strikers (and a few duds) plus of course Dave.... we can't not mention Dave! So, can we silence their fans and make it all quiet on the Preston front? Will our SAS duo inspire us to engage in some four play from five?? Or will our flourishing forwards be too hot with their pot shots for the Preston lot to handle??? All I know is that if we win this one, then it truly will be a dizzying run of form by our standards and there is every chance we can finally start to climb the ladder to safety. Blooooooooooobirds!!!
As always Brizzle . Just had a look at Thermaclad's thread on the PNE board. He's suggested that he'd be happy for us to have all 3 points as it would be another nail in the relegation coffin for Blackpool. You're right about Deepdale. I always enjoyed my visits when I was mobile and it always gives the impression of a proper football ground. I still like to see four separate stands instead of the usual bowl of modern day design. Anyway, I never know how to call this fixture and I guess much will depend on how interested PNE are. Hopefully, they're already thinking about the beach...though obviously not Blackpool. Hope harmony has been restored in Brizzle family after last week's result.
Cheers Clingo. Let's hope Themaclad is right and his team are of a similar mindset! Harmony definitely restored here, the week away in North Devon worked wonders.... All it took to make her forget her pain was a luxury holiday cottage with a hot tub on the balcony overlooking the sea combined with copious amounts of prosecco. Seems like a good solution to me! Tough game again today and very different from the earlier game this season as they seem to be scoring and conceding more. Of course we are now a very different side to the passing but blunt side we were under Morison too. A draw would be ok in my book, but being greedy and keen to keep rising up the table I'm really hoping for all 3 points. I can't see PNE really troubling the play off spots but by the same token they won't be too worried about relegation either, so as you say, let's hope they are mentally checking out...
Sounds like the perfect weekend and the opportunity to get life into perspective. Like you, I'd see a point today as a good result but again like you, would love all three in order to keep the positivity going. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
Apart from his goal at Naaarwich he didn't do much playing for us. The pie shops under the Ninian Stand did well though.
Indeed he did O Masked one... Hence the reference to him in the write up. I also mentioned him in the home Matchday thread too.
TEAM NEWS Cardiff City XI: Alnwick; Ng, McGuinness, Kipre; Philogene, Wintle, Rinomhota, Sawyers, O'Dowda; Kaba, Etete. Subs: Luthra, Romeo, Ojo, Sang, Colwill, Harris, Davies.
Bench not as strong as last week. Apart from Ojo, who did well last week, and Colwill or Davies, I hope no other subs are needed.
Alnwick sent off. Must be a record for us. 2 different keepers get red on consecutive games. Now 2 down.
Keepers jeepers. How can we have our keeper sent off again? Good job Allsop is back again for midweek. No change at the bottom, gutted we missed the chance to move up but hey ho, no harm done either.
Bad luck Bluebirds but as Brizzle says, no harm done. And there was a result down the road to cheer us up. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
