Preston North End v Sunderland Deepdale 30/9/2017 Championship When the fixtures came out suspect most North End fans looked for this one first, the ex is returning to the place he called home for four very successful years. Grayson did a really great job for us, personal view he timed his departure at the right time, at the end of last season formed dipped alarmingly it looked as if he lost the ability to actually motivate them and probably thought he needed a new challenge elsewhere. He seems to have landed a challenge of gigantic proportions with the Wearside club, there have been rumours floating round that they may be going into administration, apparently the players are not playing for him and he could be out of a job on Saturday, if that is the case I for one will not celebrate if he is sacked. Hopefully he will get a deserved warm reception from the Deepdale faithful as he deserves it although there are some who apparently going to give him stick which is beyond reasons I can fathom. Only criticism I ever had was we were not the most exciting team in the world but we got the job done and during the four years he was here that worked in the main. As for Saturday, never easy to play a side that have just been hammered, professional pride should spur them on however the Black Cats face a side which is doing brilliantly and doing it under the radar although some pundits are starting to take interest in our progress. North End may have Pearson and Gallagher back although it is International break time do not think either of these two will be available until the Fulham game. Finally three players with North End connections, two recents in Browning and Player of the Year McGeady and also Billy Jones who in the three years he was with us never let us down. Ref Watch: Sunderland please log in to view this image This weekend’s match official comes from the Premier League’s select group one list; Chris Kavanagh, who was promoted to the top tier of match officials this season. please log in to view this image Saturday will be his sixth game of the season, having so far taken charge of two Premier League games, including last Saturday’s goalless draw between Burnley and Huddersfield Town at Turf Moor. The Greater Manchester referee has issued just 15 cautions in those fixtures and no red cards. Whilst this is his first PNE game of the season, last year he took charge of two Lilywhites fixtures, which were the clash with Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium and the clash with Newcastle United earlier on in the season. In 2014/15 he also made two trips to Deepdale; the first round Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win over Shrewsbury Town, back in September 2014 and the 5-1 home demolition of Crewe Alexandra in March 2015. On Saturday he will be assisted by Peter Kirkup and Neil Davies, whilst the fourth official will be Martin Coy. Last time out for the visitors Sunderland: Steele, Jones, Wilson (O’Shea 51), Kone, Matthews, Oviedo (Gooch 56), Cattermole, Gibson, McManaman (Honeyman 66), McGeady, Vaughan. Subs: Ruiter, Ndong, Browning, Asoro. Stat Attack: Sunderland please log in to view this image Whether referring to themselves as the Black Cats, the Mackens, the Wearsiders or the Rokerities, Sunderland have travelled south over 50 times since their first game here in 1891. However, this is their first visit to Deepdale since 2006 when we won 4-1. please log in to view this image We have won half of the matches, with 26 victories, 14 draws and 13 wins for Sunderland. That first game ended goalless, but there has only been one such score-line since and that was way back in 1937. In the 53 league games to date, goals have been a regular occurrence, with our 103 goals countered by 71 by our visitors. Our biggest defeat was over 100 years ago, when Sunderland won 3-0, but we have recorded some heavy wins over the years. When we met twice in the calendar year of 1896, we won 4-1 and 5-3; there were also eight goals in our 6-2 victory in 1953. Three years later, we recorded our biggest win by 6-0. In total, we have scored four or more league goals against Sunderland on seven occasions here at Deepdale. Charlie Wayman recorded a hat-trick in the 1953 match and Tommy Thompson repeated the feat in our 6-0 win, whilst Richard Cresswell did it in the first half of our 3-2 win back on new year’s day 2005. We of course welcome back Simon Grayson and last season’s player of the season Aidan McGeady, but they are far from being the only connections between our two clubs. Simon was preceded by David Moyes as Sunderland’s manager, whilst players for both clubs include Tommy Miller, Ross Wallace, Jim McNab, Mel Holden, Brian Mooney and of course Jordan Pickford. please log in to view this image On This Date – 30th September Dean Barrick, left back in our 1996 promotion side, is 48 on Saturday. Since retiring ten years ago, Dean has trained as PE teacher and has worked in Poland and Thailand as well as the UK. Two players who only made two appearances each for North End also celebrate their birthdays on 30th September, Lee Briscoe (42) and Scott Leather (25). Until the visit of Swansea City in 2008, we had never lost any of our previous seven home league games on this date. Graham Cross spent a year at Deepdale in the late 1970s and played his last game for North End on this date in 1978, whilst Alan McCormack made his last appearance for us 11 years ago. please log in to view this image Last Five Games At Deepdale Preston North End 1 (Ormerod) Sunderland 0, Sat 6th Jan 2007 Preston North End 4 (Dichio, Alexander (pen), Whitehead (og), Whaley) Sunderland 1 (Varga), Sat 14th Oct 2006 Preston North End 3 (Cresswell, 3) Sunderland 2 (Elliott, Thornton), Sat 1st Jan 2005 Preston North End 0 Sunderland 2 (Thornton, Stewart), Sat 23rd Aug 2003 Preston North End 1 (Kidd) Sunderland 1 (Angell), tue 15th Aug 1995
Well the build up to this was not let down by the game, tremendous entertainment between two sides who gave it their all for 90 plus minutes. Grayson and Jones both got tremendous receptions the former before the game the latter when he was substituted in the second half however McGeady was given grief all afternoion by the home fans maybe partly due to an interview on Sunderland's official site, which he stated Sunderland players were better than ours, he was to have the last laugh. First half North End were off the pace however thought Sunderland did not look like a bottom of the table side they started well although Barkuizen caused them problem however like Millwall our build up play was a bit pedestrian. Things started to go the Wearsiders way when McGeady switched wings to the right, they started to get in better position, McGeady having gone close with a shot, when they took the lead it probably was not a surprise, a soft free kick was fired in, never really dealt with the ball and a Gooch back flick found Honeyman, chip over Maxwell 1-0. We hadn't really threatened but Barkuizen was just a shade unklucky when he could quite control the ball in front of goal. A couple of Harrop free kicks were wasted and was quite glad to get in 1 down at half time. Great early chance for North End but Hugill's pass to Barkuizen would have been perfect if Barkie had been 9 miles further away. Wasn't long though before we were level, free kick edge of the area, Harrop whipped it in with pace, straight into the far corner may have taken a slight touch on the way in, within two minutes dreamland in front, Sunderland never dealt with a bouncing ball in the box it fell to Hugill, first time left footed volley underside of bar and in it went, fantastic strike. Atmosphere in the ground up to 11, when Sunderland were level two minutes later, slip by Harrop and the ball found it's way to McGeady shock of a tackle by Earl and curled the ball past Maxwell, cue 75 yard run to celebrate in front of a rather less than impressed Town End,should have been booked as Johnson was at Birmingham but given the stick he had got he had every right to celebrate although not in that fashion. North End could have been back in front minutes later Browne hitting the outside of the post from 20 yards. Sunderland started to exert pressure and substitute Watmore was denied by a fantastic save by keeper Maxwell, 40 yards from goal on the touchline, neither Referee nor liner saw it. Sunderland were not impressed. They could have had a penalty when Huntington nearly strangled Vaughan and some strange defending by Hunts almost let Watmore in again but luckily team mates help him out. Super game of football quite happy with a point as some of the younger players just looked slightly off the pace. Sunderland will get better and so will we. Preston 22 Maxwell 14 Fishe rBooked at 23 mins 23 Huntington 20 Davies 32 Earl 11 Johnson 8 Browne 29 Barkhuizen Substituted for Horgan at 69'minutes 10 Harrop 24 Maguire Substituted for Robinson at 88'minutes 9 Hugil lSubstituted for Mavididi at 77'minutes Substitutes 2 Vermijl 7 Horgan 15 Woods 17 Spurr 27 Mavididi 28 Hudson 37 Robinson Sunderland 1Steele Booked at 68mins 2Jones Substituted for Oviedo at 70'minutes 18Browning 16O'Shea 21Matthews 17Ndong 6Cattermole 26Honeyman Substituted for Williams at 84'minutes 27 Gooch Substituted for Watmore at 64'minutes 19 McGeady 9 Vaughan Substitutes 3 Oviedo 7 Williams 13 McManaman 14 Watmore 23 Koné 24 Gibson 25 Ruiter Referee: Chris Kavanagh Attendance: 17,621 Sunderland manager Simon Grayson on McGeady's celebration: "You are allowed to run around any part of the field and celebrate how you want. "He took the pressure off me to be fair, so I'm quite happy with that. I said to him he looked like Adebayor at City. "Why shouldn't you celebrate? He was unfairly taunted, I thought, because he was exceptional last year. "He didn't have a choice to come here, so I thought it was a bit unfair what went off." Preston manager Alex Neil: "I was too disappointed with conceding to notice Aiden's celebration. "I saw him run somewhere. I think in football emotions run high. "We were delighted when we scored. I'll be honest, I don't make too much of it."
Accounts seem to suggest a fair result. I am glad the crowd gave SG respect and I do hope he turns it around at Sunderland. It was time for NE to let him move on if it is to be a Premiership club. As for McGeady, he insulted his once fellow team mates and now the crowd. I see that the crowd (crowds???) are gradually turning up to watch the NE.
Rumour has it he was not overly popular in the dressing room when with us, take it you've been on holiday
