Match Day Thread Preston North End v Burton Albion Deepdale 6/5/2018

Here we are at the last match of the league season for 2017-18 and whoever decided the fixtures in the Championship for the last day deserves a medal for what could possibly be the most nailbiter of a last day that has been seen for many a year.
Five teams at the bottom are in competition to avoid the last two relegation places whilst at the other end two are in competition for the last promotion spot and the other two are after the last play off spot and all the teams at the top play all those at the bottom, calculators at the ready a buttock twitching afternoon is coming.
Birmingham v Fulham
Cardiff v Reading
Bolton v Forest
Derby v Barnsley
plus us against Burton.

Our opponents Burton have won three on the bounce since being hammered 0-5 at home to Hull City having seen off Derby, Sunderland and Bolton has given them a tremendous chance of staying up although their goal difference is not good. The fact that they didn't win a home game for the best part of six months does suggest that they are harder to beat away from home although they have defended better away from the Pirelli and have been harder to beat away from home, on Sunday though they need a win.
This will be no pushover as Clough is a decent manager and will have them well organised. They have sum decent players Luke Murphy on loan from Leeds cost a million, however we need to keep an eye out for Liam Boyce the Brewers record signing who unluckily did knee ligaments just after he signed, if he had been fit all season they may not be in the bottom three.

McCrory and Dyer are both fitness doubts for Burton

For us same again will do nicely only injury doubt is Pearson, also this Sunday it could also be the last time we see a couple of other players although they may be needed for another couple of weeks depending on results.

Hard to predict what will happen however think the key game for both Barnsley and Burton is the Bolton game as they are the only side playing someone with nothing to play for in Forest.

No matter what happens the lads have done the club proud this season and we won't finish 11th




Stat Attack: Burton Albion

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We bring to a close our 119th season of regular league action with only the second visit of Burton Albion to Deepdale.

Last season’s inaugural fixture ended all square, when Callum Robinson’s goal on the stroke of half-time equalised Jackson Irvine’s 23rd minute strike. That was the Brewers’ first away goal for over 400 minutes and the first at Deepdale by a club from Burton on Trent since 1902, when Burton United also drew 1-1.

That was one of three visits here by Albion’s predecessors and the only time they gained a point so let’s hope for a continuation of that record as we say goodbye to club football for another summer.

The final day of the season has resulted in some memorable occasions over the years, whether celebrating promotions, marking retirements or looking forward with hope after a campaign that has ended in relegation.
Our final home game of the inaugural league season took place as early as 5th January in 1889, as the 22 game season gave way to the FA Cup in February. We still had two away games to play, but our 4-1 victory over Notts County sealed what had been virtually inevitable all season as the Invincibles were crowned the first league champions in the world.

In later years the season ended at Easter, which saw us play both Sheffield clubs here on successive days in 1905, winning on both occasions.

Having the final league game at home has resulted in some high-scoring matches over the years. We’ve had 5-0 vs Derby (1898), a 4-2 victory over Barnsley in 1926, our 4-0 defeat of Liverpool in 1952 and most memorably our final day win over Cardiff City by 9-0 in 1966 all saw the North End faithful sent off with a smile on their faces.

Less happy was the result of our final game in 1948, which ended a record home defeat as our Fylde coast neighbours came out on top by 7-0. Not a scoreline to dwell on as we mark the end of another successful campaign!

On This Date
Former left back David Buchanan marks his 32nd birthday today, having spent the last three seasons as captain of Northampton Town after ending his time here in 2015. David spent three seasons at Deepdale after being signed by Graham Westley from Tranmere Rovers and he shared the left back spot with Scott Laird.

Several players have made their final appearances for North End on this date over the years, most recently when David Nugent pulled on the Lilywhite shirt for the last time.

His 107th appearance came in a 1-0 home win over Birmingham City, in which he was replaced by another player turning out for us for the last time in Michael Ricketts. Nuge had the better goalscoring record for us, hitting the net 37 times compared to Michael’s sole strike
.

This date in 1963 saw Willie Cunningham bring to an end his 14 year playing career as he turned out for the 487th time for North End. Signed from Airdrie in 1949, Willie was 38 when he left for Southport before retiring and opening a sports shop on Church Street in the town centre. He won eight caps for Scotland and was his country’s captain at the 1954 World Cup Finals in Switzerland.

Others to say farewell to Deepdale on this date include Sean Haslegrave (1981), Matt Carmichael (1995) and Bjarki Gunnlaugsson (2001).

We have only played four previous home games on this date, beating Southampton 3-1 in 1933, West Bromwich Albion 2-1 in 2001 and the 1-0 win over Birmingham mentioned earlier. The second of those four fixtures saw us sign off the disastrous 1984/85 season with a 5-2 hammering by Wigan Athletic in front of only 4,800 spectators.

Last Game At Deepdale
Preston North End 1 (Robinson) Burton Albion 1 (Irvine), 26th November 2016



Ref Watch: Burton Albion

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For the fourth time this season Andy Madley will be the match referee for the Lilywhites’ fixture.
It is his first game at Deepdale since right back at the start of the season, having taken charge of the 1-0 win over Reading at Deepdale back in August, and since then he refereed our games at Ipswich Town and away at the Madejski Stadium last month.

He is one of the most familiar faces in terms of match officials for North End fans, as not only did he take charge of five of our games last season, but he also refereed the Play-Off Final win at Wembley in 2015 and our last encounter with local rivals Blackpool – when Tom Clarke wrote his name in PNE folklore.

Last season he was the referee away at Queens Park Rangers, in both games we played at St James’ Park, Newcastle, the away game at Aston Villa in January and the 5-0 home thrashing of Bristol City in April.

He also had the whistle for three PNE games in 2014/15, including the win at Wembley, having been the referee in the first league win of the season, the 4-0 triumph at Scunthorpe United back in August of 2014 and then the live TV game against Fleetwood Town at Highbury in March 2015.
Mr Madley, as mentioned, was also in charge of our now memorable League Cup win over Blackpool in 2013/14 and then at Port Vale when North End won 2-0 with ten men.

This year he has so far officiated 41 games, issuing 133 cautions and just one red card. This is his third game in the middle for the Brewers this season – taking charge of their goalless draw at QPR earlier in the season and then their 1-0 win at Bolton Wanderers back in December.

He will be assisted on Saturday by Neil Davies and Robert Merchant and the fourth official will be Andy’s fellow select group two match official Darren Bond.

 

PNE Team News: Burton Albion

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Manager Alex Neil must check on the fitness of midfielder Ben Pearson ahead of the final game of the regular season at home to Burton Albion this Sunday.
The No.4 played through the pain barrier in the last half an hour of last weekend’s vital victory over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, but has been unable to train since.

Paul Huntington and Tom Clarke both came through the game with the Blades with no further complications, both having not trained for a week before the game after hamstring complaints.

The manager revealed after the win over Chris Wilder’s men that a number of his squad had been unable to train in the run up to the trip across the Pennines, however, he hopes to have a virtually full squad back in training this week, subject to Pearson’s availability.

The only player not likely to be available is John Welsh. The long-serving midfielder, who it was announced on Thursday will be leaving at the end of the season, has been unavailable with a slight injury in recent weeks and will not make the squad for the clash with Nigel Clough’s men.
With only a win being enough for the Lilywhites if they are to reach the Play-Offs, the manager has plenty of attacking options available to him. Last weekend Sean Maguire returned from injury to start in the No.9 role, but there are plenty of options should the manager look to freshen matters.

Alan Browne will look to get into double figures for the season in terms of goals and Tom Barkhuizen, if he plays a part, will be the only player in the squad to have been involved in every single league game.

 

Predicted: a nervous 1 - 0 win for NE, scored on 50 minutes by Hunts from a corner by Harrop.

 

Preston North End 2 Robinson, Moult Burton Albion 1 Akpan

PNE: Rudd, Fisher, Clarke, Huntington, Cunningham, Pearson, Browne (Moult 81), Bodin, Harrop (Gallagher 68), Robinson, Maguire (Barkhuizen 59). Subs (not used): Johnson, Spurr, Earl, Maxwell.
Burton: Bywater, Brayford, McFadzean, Naylor, Flanagan (Dyer 74), Davenport (Bent 61), Sordell, Murphy, Akpan, Akins, Boyce. Subs (not used): Allen, Samuelsen, Buston, Sbarra, Campbell.
Referee: Andy Madley (West Yorkshire)
Attendance: 17,085 (1,969 away)

Our fate was sealed long before the end of this highly entertaining last game, with the Chinese side from Oakwell getting well and truly creamed by Direby, it was just a case of whether Albion could get a decent result against us to stay up.
Until we scored they were probably the better side although rarely testing Rudd between our sticks.
In truth the first 20 minutes little happened until we scored from our first corner Huntington nodded the corner onto Robinson who headed home. The goal changed the game we should have been two up when Robinson got past Burton's high back line advanced on goal squared to Maguire who hit the bar, should have scored, then came a moment that nearly changed the game, Bodin headed home at the back stick, neither the referee or the liner saw anything goal given until Albion protested and after a delay the goal was wiped out and unbeknown to the vast majority of us Bodin got carded.
Albion finally brought a good save from Rudd just before half time and as it was they were going down.
Mr Madley's second intervention came early on ion the second half it got Burton into the game when Bodin went down in the area apparently he dived and got carded again and finshed the season earlier than his team mates.
Game on for Burton against 10 on a roasting hot day, the pressure increased and they drew level from a corner which in truth should have been a free kick to North End, we cleared the ball only to Akpan who scored a non too shabby goal. Burton staying up for now, they could have been ahead Boyce's header went narrowly wide and a header from Bent? brought off a worldie save from Rudd.
By now Albion were playing four up front going for the win but when Bolton scored they were down until Forest replied with two and Albion were staying up. It looked good for them but they still needed to win to make sure, then came two Bolton goals and Clough went for broke with eight forwards and as you would suspect North End had plenty of space to take advantage off, Robinson missed a sitter, before he got clear squared the ball to Moult in acres of space he just about got it home and it was game up for Albion. Credit to them though and also to use with third lowest budget in the division finishing seventh is a tremendous performance promises much for next season.
And with that thanks to Tyler's coaches for letting me see millions of miles of motorways, it's been a pleasure.

Preston manager Alex Neil:

"I've really enjoyed my year and there's much more to come going forward. We are not far away and we have improvement to make.

"We can reflect on the season and reflect on a few things that mean we have come up short, but also with a lot of pride in what we have managed to achieve.

"There are elements we need to improve. What we need is to push it on again and, if we can, improve the squad over the summer.

"I want to get as much as we can get done as early as we can and bring more competition into certain places. Without competition, improvement doesn't take place."

Burton Albion boss Nigel Clough:

"Everybody in the dressing room is really flat as you would expect. There are a lot of upset players in there.

"But we are down and have been relegated because of a reason - over 46 games we haven't been good enough it's as simple as that.

"We just didn't get enough points ultimately, we had too many draws and we wasted too many opportunities across the course of the season.

"What made it worse for us is that it all happened so late. Bolton were always going to be the problem. You always worry when your rivals are playing against a team with nothing to play for."
My views are my own except for those which aren't

 

The end of an unpredictable season and a 'nail-biting' finish. Perhaps Clem of the BBC will pay NE more respect next season? Doubt it. I prefer the Irish guy of C5 who always seems y

joyous when NE win. He points to the low budget and expresses genuine surprise that NE can do the double over Cardiff and Bristol City (before they faded away). Punters on PNE Facebook want the big man to pour money into the team but besides the rules set EUFA, would someone costing millions would want to play for NE's wages and before crowds of 12K? The policy of finding young talent seems to be slowly paying off.

 

Can only get better