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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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!!!
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