A Monday night treat for the fans as the Whites take on localish rivals Oldham Athletic, the Latics currently in 13th place are a much changed side form last season, having just lost Baxter to the Blades, their attack will possibly be led by Philliskirk and Rooney. They won in mid week at Shrewsbury however lost their last league match to a disputed penalty against Tranmere. Young manager Lee Johnson has recruited from abroad possibly using his Dad's Latvian connections, latest signing is Genseric Kusunga who has been recruited from FC Basel. A very quiet window for the Whites, nobody in and only 1 out, will have to make 1 change as Humphreys is on international duty as is Hume. A tough game but should hopefully produce a decent performance after last weeks win.
There you go, classic case of win when playing like a bunch of strangers. As they say rather be a lucky winner than an unlucky loser. Oldham supporters probably woke up this morning with the "How did we lose that game feeling" Having dominated almost all of the game they lost 2-1. Oldham started bightly outpassing the home side, they looked quicker to the ball, had movement and looked an excellent side, an early shot from Mills went wide, also had a string of early corner which were whipped in at pace but excellent keeping by Rudd kept them at bay. Two early free kicks at the other end brought the first Preston goal. The second kick taken by Laird was flicked on by Beavon sending the Oldham custodian the wrong way. (1-0) Oldham piled on the pressure and had a string of corners which the home side desperately kept out including a fine save by Rudd via defender and post to safety. The impressive Schemltz, and Smith ran the home side ragged but luckily for the home side they lacked someone with a real poacher's instinct. Grayson made a change by swapping Laird to the left wing and in an instance the balance of the home side improved. Would have been happy to take a one goal lead into half time, but instead we took a two goal lead into the break, from North End's only corner of the game Davies won a penalty following a push Wesolowski, looked a nailed on penalty until you saw it on TV. Davies penalty was not for saving. (2-0) Oldham started the second half with another flurry of corners, however North End should have increased the lead when following a fine move Beavon, played in Laird, should have buried it, it went past the far post. Minutes later Davies could have added another but his shot went slightly wide. Play became a little more even, then with 7 minutes left from one of the many Oldham corners Tarkowski headed home. (2-1) North End hung on to take the points, a very entertaining game for the TV. Yep we were lucky but the score was:- Preston North End 2 Oldham Athletic 1 Att 10292
