Into South Yorkshire for our first of two trips this season, off to Hillsborough for what is likely to be our last visit for possibly a couple of seasons due to situations caused by a dodgy ex foreign owner. Sadly this is still happening around the league but at least there is some light at the end of the tunnel for the Owls https://www.swfc.co.uk/ MANAGER Henrik Pedersen (born 2 January 1978) is a Danish football manager who is the manager of EFL please log in to view this image Photograph attribution Maniacofsport FORM GUIDE please log in to view this image FORM GUIDE OWLS 3 PNE 12 Watched their game at the Den on Wednesday night, battled hard nearly had a wonder goal by Bannon, they also hit the bar the lad should have scored. Newbies and hot shots please log in to view this image Team News please log in to view this image Ben Whiteman will return to the squad after serving a one-match suspension, meanwhile fellow midfielder Harrison Armstrong is also likely to be back involved, having missed the last two matches through injury. It seemed like North End picked up a few bumps and bruises on Tuesday night, however everyone has come through unscathed and should be in contention on Saturday. Ali McCann, Andrija Vukčević, Brad Potts, Lewis Gibson, Robbie Brady and Theo Carroll will all miss out again. The Hosts please log in to view this image Sheffield Wednesday head into the weekend sat bottom of the table, but that by no means tells the full story. It’s been a tumultuous time for the Owls who entered administration in October and were deducted 12 points, leaving Henrik Pedersen with the difficult task of retaining their Championship status. The team and supporters have really stuck together through difficult times, though, and as Paul Heckingbottom spoke about in his pre-match press conference, they are proving really competitive and fighting for every point. Match Officials please log in to view this image Referee: Oliver Langford Assistant Referees: Mark Stevens and David Harrison Fourth Official: Matthew Russell Experienced official Oliver Langford will take charge of Saturday’s fixture. The referee was the man in the middle for North End’s season opener against QPR and so far this campaign has shown 34 yellow cards and one red in ten matches. Langford, may the Lord have mercy on our souls We’ve Met Before An Emil Riis brace and a penalty from Sam Greenwood earned North End a 3-1 win in the final match of 2024.# Paul Heckingbottom expects a really competitive contest against a Sheffield Wednesday side who are “fighting for every point”. North End head to Hillsborough this weekend to take on the division’s bottom side, who have a big task on their hands to recover from a 12-point deduction after the club entered administration. Incidentally, that’s injected renewed energy into the fanbase, who have flocked back to the stadium to get right behind their team, who lost narrowly to Millwall during the week. Hecky Expecting ‘Really Competitive’ Wednesday ClashPaul Heckingbottom expects a really competitive contest against a Sheffield Wednesday side who are “fighting for every point”. Hecky said: “With the position they're in in the league, they're fighting for every game, fighting for every point and being really competitive. What's hindered them is the size of the squad and the options that you've then got, which obviously we've experienced but that's through injuries and suspensions, whereas they've got that constantly. “Away from that, there's still a positive feel around the place because there's light at the end of the tunnel now. It's not like there's any pressure on the manager or on the players, except for the pressure they're putting on themselves, which makes it another dangerous game. “We've got to make sure that we go there with no pity and being as honest and as aggressive and as intense as we possibly can, just like we do every game to get three points.” PNE head to Yorkshire sat sixth in the Championship table which is looking perhaps as tight as ever after 17 matches. Only six points separate Millwall in fourth and West Brom in 17th – a sign of how many teams will still consider themselves in with a chance of pushing for the Play-Offs. Hecky said: “I knew it was tight, but that sounds mental when you say that. It just shows, that's why the margins are always fine and that’s why you should fight for everything and scrap for every inch on a pitch. “We speak about decisions a lot and possibly introducing VAR. When a league's this tight, you can see the importance of stuff like that. “But from a fan point of view and as someone involved in it, it’s great, and I think it makes for a really good league to watch.”
https://www.fotmob.com/matches/preston-v...tab=lineup Attendance: 22,652 (2,376 PNE fans). Referee: Oliver Langford. A chaotic afternoon five goals a missed penalty and some dreadful defending by both sides and a victory for us which can only be described as fortunate. Leaden Yorkshire skies dumped it's load on South Yorkshire, only thing that was missing was a diamond shape mass mud ptch on the pitch a throwback to when the game was far better. Two changes for us after the draw at Watford, Ehiteman and Small both came back for Thor and Lewis. Decent start by us althogh Wednesday's first attack, Amass, created a a space mainly due to some of our inability to tackle, ball to McNeil nice finish Stung us into action, Horvath two decent saves, but a well worked corner routine saw us level, Whiteman scoring from outside the box. Parity didn't last long, McNeil not challenged at the back post easily headed home, could have have got worse, Cadamarteri ran between a gaping gap at the centre of our alleged defence, denied by Iversenand when Valery got in down the right hand side, it did actually cause me to utter the words FFS, luckily saved by the Dane. Shambolic could describe our first half performance. please log in to view this image Copyright APM At half time happy to be only 2-1 down felt we still had a chance, and sure enough we scored again from a corner, Storey headed the ball back across goal, Dobbin from close range, all square. Then came the penalty, amy again have got lucky as Odel was already on a yellow card, could probably have been booked for it, but as it's Oliver Langford, who knows what goes on in the mind of our Oliver. McNeil's kick wasn't great, Big Dan easily saved it and a couple of minutes later we hit the front, Dobbin for the first time in months tried not to beat 8 men, actually passed to Mads just outside the box right footed bottom left hand corner, possibly Horvath should have done better. A Redmond shot went narrowly wide, but once ahead thought we would hold on to it. Cruel on Wednesday but that's the way it goes when your at the bottom The boss Paul Heckingbottom felt it was North End’s personality which got them over the line in the 3-2 comeback victory over Sheffield Wednesday. The gaffer said his side got as much wrong as they did right at Hillsborough, in a game which they trailed twice, as Charlie McNeill scored either side of Ben Whiteman’s leveller. Lewis Dobbin then equalised for North End again in the 57th minute, before Mads Frøkjær was the match-winner with a smart strike from the edge of the area. Hecky said: “I'm glad I'm feeling like I do now rather than how I was at half-time. This is not going to be one I enjoy watching back for lots of reasons in terms of how we want to play and how we want to control games. “The overriding message of the players and the fantastic thing is showing how you can win games when you don't play well. We did lots of things well, everyone, but individual players made mistakes. Tactically we got things wrong and it was the boys' personality that got us over the line and not settling for the point. “That will to win which is what I always want to see and it probably made for a real good spectacle for the neutral.” North End have goalkeeper Daniel Iversen to thank perhaps as much as their goalscorers today, for an important stop he made in the first half to keep out a Bailey Cadamarteri one-on-one and a penalty from McNeill, right before Frøkjær’s winning strike. Hecky said: “There were two moments for me there. The save in the first half, the one-on-one save, and then obviously everyone will talk about the penalty save, but they're both as big as each other for me. “We love him. We know he can do that and no one was worried when were away at Millwall [when he made a mistake] and I think that's why the players were pushing him towards the fans there and he was lapping it up.” The hosts had the lead at the break and were good value for it, and the manager opted to make a double switch at the break as he looked to turn the game in his side’s favour. Asked if he was surprised by the first-half performance, Hecky said: “Not them, us and how we played took me by surprise in the first half. “We've been saying all week, they've got good players and they're a wounded animal with nothing to lose. The fans are right behind them. They've got bigger things to worry about in terms of their ownership, so the league position and the points total, having points taken off them is not a reflection on them. “We spoke about them in transition and how dangerous they are. That is their big threat and we didn't deal with that. Then we were really loose with the ball, turning the ball over too often to allow them to have those moments. “Second half, we dealt with that better. Even if we lost the ball, we got back, we stopped the forward pass early, we got back behind the ball and they maybe had the ball in front of us rather than behind us, so that was a big change in the second half.” Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen told BBC Radio Sheffield: "The boys had a fantastic reaction today. The derby last week was tough. The reaction at Millwall was fantastic from the boys, then the first home game from the derby it was a fantastic performance. "We have spoken a lot about the last two weeks where we have played three games in a week where we have played poor first half but good second half, but the game was normally done after the first half. "This reaction to be there from the first moment, to put this effort, to put this energy in, I think this half was the best of the season. "We were strong defensively but we were especially strong on the ball. It makes me proud that the boys can play a first half like this with this confidence, with this belief, with this intensity in a third game in six days. "We could, we should, have maybe scored one or two more goals. Second half I think we do it really well also, then miss the penalty and, a minute later, a goal in the other. It was tough, but a strong performance."
