A midweek trip to the Potteries for the Whites, hopefully the shoot to miss policy that marred yesterday's game will be rectified by intensive shooting practice in the next two days. A difficult away trip to a ground where we rarely do well, the home side have started off surprisingly well this season, bobbing along just outside the play off zone. An odds and ends side, no money to spend but Micky Adams has recruited well on his limited budget. Three ex North Enders in Neal, Robertson and Chilvers. Up front they have Tom Pope and Myrie-Williams who is on goal scoring form, they also have Lee Hughes who is the twilight of his career. A word of praise for the Vale following their cup tie at Shortwood, the entire playing staff and management team gave the defeated non leaguers a guard of honour after the game, bit of class in my book. Some injuries for North End, Clarke, Welsh and Rudd struggling at the end, may be some changes, hopefully we will not miss as chances as we did yesterday.
A fourth away win on the bounce for Preston as they win 2-0 at Port Vale with as good as an away win that I have seen for many a year, considering the fact they were down to 10 men after just 13 minutes it was an astounding performance. Garner got both goals for the visitors but he was possibly lucky still to be on the pitch following the incident in the 13th minute. The ball was played away down the right hand side with North End attacking when the official Mr Madley stopped play,Griffiths and Garner looked to be replaying moves from a 1970's porn movie although it did appear punches were thrown, however was not overly sure about this as I had borrowed Arsene Wenger's eyes. After consulting with his linesman Mr Madley sent off North End's Kilkenny who had nothing to do with the fracas, understandibly Kilkenny was a tad reluctant to leave the pitch, with the referee having to placate Preston manager Simon Grayson. Garner who had already had one shot tipped away was to prove a pivotal figure in the remainder of the match. North End re organised and were now playing a 441 formation and were hanging on as Vale pressed forward, but on the half hour Garner seized on a loose pass advanced on goal before unleashing a powerful shot which dipped in underneath the bar. (0-1) Within a minute Vale could have been level but Rudd's super finger tip save kept out Pope's header by a gnat nadger. Vale launched a bombardment of the visitors goal but in truth posed little danger. Vale's Dickinson should also have seen red before half time but his two handed push on a North End player was deemed only to be a yellow. An early Gallagher free kick was easily saved by Neal, Vale were now very direct, but North End's back line were more than a match for them, if they got past them they couldn't get past Rudd who made a couple of good saves, when beaten Rudd saw his defender head one clear from the line. With 19 minutes to go a speedy break by North End saw Hayhurst brought down in the box by the keeper, Garner, who else drilled the penalty home to secure the points for Preston. Vale strived to reduce the arrears but stoic defending kept them out. The 1039 visiting fans celebrated a great victory with a chorus of"We've only got 10 men" Port Vale 0 Preston North End 2 Att 5889 http://youtu.be/ekn4_MDLptk Garner penalty
