please log in to view this image Third Round Tie please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Preston North End 2 - 0 Norwich City HT 0 - 0Attendance: 9,807 Date: Saturday 3rd January 2015 Venue: Deepdale Kick-Off: 3:00PM KIO's not606 Match Preview This Saturday Norwich City travel to Deepdale to take on Preston North End in the third round of The Football Association Challenge Cup. This will be the first time that the two sides have met in this competition although they have met 46 times in the League and League Cup under its various sponsor guises. They were drawn together four times between 1982 and 1988 in the League Cup and it's fair to say that the Canaries got the better of the Lilywhites in the two-legged ties. Of the eight meetings City won six with the other two ending in draws. Declan Rudd will be the SatNav on board the Norwich City team bus when it heads to Preston North End’s Deepdale this weekend. The young goalkeeper spent a season-and-a-half on loan at Preston from the Canaries. He did so well that PNE wanted him back again for this season but this time the answer back from Carrow Road was ‘no’. Rudd has spent much of the campaign watching on from the sidelines as understudy to John Ruddy, his only two starts coming in the Capital One Cup in August. It could be that he steps up from bench-warming duties for the FA Cup clash against the side for whom he made 69 appearances. City will want to get back to winning ways this weekend after a disappointing performance against Reading in the Sky Bet Championship on Boxing Day. They went down by two goals to one but in truth the scoreline probably flattered them as they looked a shadow of the side that had plundered thirteen goals in their previous three league outings and never really troubled the hosts. Preston currently sit third in the Sky Bet League One table after 23 games two points behind second placed Swindon Town and go into this fixture on the back of a 1-1 draw at lowly Crewe Alexandra, a late strike from ex Leeds and Everton striker Jermaine Beckford ensuring a share of the spoils. North End have lost only once in their last nine outings a 0-1 reverse in League One at Bristol City so this game will certainly be a tough task for Neil Adams' City side. The Lilywhites entered this competition in the First Round Proper where they beat non-league Havant & Waterlooville in an away tie 3-0, they followed this up in the Second Round with a 1-0 home victory against Shrewsbury Town. New year signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake will be in the PNE squad for tomorrow's game, Ebanks-Blake, 28, has put pen to paper on a contract until the end of the season after being on trial with the Lilywhites for more than a month. PNE boss Simon Grayson gave him the extended trial spell to work on his fitness and saw enough to add him to the squad. Simon Grayson's Match Preview please log in to view this image Simon Grayson “This is a big week for us, with a Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday schedule. “We want to win all three games and the players are all up for a tough test. “In terms of picking the team we will try and get the balance right, keep everyone as fresh as possible. “Most of the squad are fit and available, we have had a virus going around but we did not get any new injuries during the games over Christmas.” “Norwich are a club looking to get back to the Premier League,” said Grayson. “When you look through their squad list they have got a tremendous depth to it. “Whatever team they put out, we will do our best against them. “We tested ourselves against Ipswich last year at this stage of the FA Cup and eventually got through after a replay. “Then we gave a very good of ourselves in the two games against Nottingham Forest. “So we have shown that we can play well against sides from the Championship. “The priority is the league game at Sheffield United and the JPT tie with Walsall but we go into every game with the intention of winning it.” Neil Adams' Match Preview NEIL Adams believes a good cup run would impact positively on Norwich City’s season as a whole. The Canaries’ boss, speaking ahead of his first taste of FA Cup football as a manager at Preston North End on Saturday, says winning games, in any competition, can help it become a habit. Neil Adams' Preview “Some people say it could have a detrimental effect because of the amount of games you’ve got, but the nature of it means the further you go in it, the more games you’re winning,” he told Norwich City TV at the Club’s Colney Training Centre on Friday. “You see that when you’re winning games you get that momentum and you can’t wait for that next one to come. “We certainly want to win it – it would be great to be in the hat for the Fourth Round and we’ll be doing everything we can to win the game. The further you go, the more the excitement builds. “Preston are doing really well in their own division. It could be your typical FA Cup atmosphere and type of game on Saturday. I’m sure they’ll be up for it with the home crowd behind them, and they’ll see it as an opportunity to progress as much as we will.” Leading into the tie, Adams has a number of fitness issues to contend against with Kyle Lafferty (quadricep) and Lewis Grabban (Achilles) doubts and Martin Olsson and Alex Tettey both definitely absent after routine knee injections. The match also comes too soon for Carlos Cuellar (calf) and Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (knee), plus the returning Elliott Bennett, who picked up a hamstring strain towards the end of his loan spell at Brighton & Hove Albion. Javi Garrido (groin), however, is fit and will be in the squad. With the January transfer window offering clubs a chance to assess their squads before the second half of the season, Adams revealed his priority is to keep hold of his players. “We’ve said that all along. Barring exceptional offers for players, then we hope that we can,” he said. “We’ll be looking in the transfer window too, to look at players who are not just ready if one leaves, but to improve the squad as well. “We’ll be as active as we can but the priority will be the keep this group of players that we feel will be good enough.” Current Form Preston North End: DWWWD Preston Home Preston have won 60%, drawn 35% and lost 5% of their last 20 home games. Preston have kept a clean sheet in 6 of their last 20 home games, going on to win 5 and draw 1 of these matches. Preston have failed to score in 1 of their last 20 home games, going on to draw 1 and lose 0 of these matches. Norwich City: WWDWL Norwich Away Norwich have won 25%, drawn 15% and lost 60% of their last 20 away games. Norwich have kept a clean sheet in 5 of their last 20 away games, going on to win 3 and draw 2 of these matches. Norwich have failed to score in 9 of their last 20 away games, going on to draw 2 and lose 7 of these matches. Match History Of the 46 meetings between the two clubs 40 have been competitive fixtures and the spoils have been equally shared over the years. Fourteen wins apiece with 12 drawn games, the Lilywhites finding the net 50 times, the Canaries 49. Preston have beaten City on 10 occasions on home soil, losing 5 and drawing 5, at Carrow Road City have won 9, lost 4 and there have been 7 stalemates. The sides met for the first time in the old Second Division at Carrow Road on 11th November 1961 City running out 2-0 winners, the scoreline was reversed in the return fixture on 30th March 1962 at Deepdale. North End's biggest winning margin was by four goals to nil in League Division One on 26th September 2001, City's best win was on 7th October 1964 a 4-2 victory at Carrow Road in League Division Two. Highest Preston North End score Preston North End 4 Norwich City 0 Highest Norwich City score Norwich City 4 Preston North End 2 Highest Aggregate (6) Norwich City 4 Preston North End 2 Former Canaries now at Deepdale JAMIE HOYLAND Preston's Youth Team Manager had a trial with Norwich Current Canaries who were once with Preston DECLAN RUDD Season and a half loan with Preston Team Line Ups please log in to view this image Norwich Subs: Rudd (GK), Martin, Lafferty, Loza, Garrido, Josh Murphy, McGrandles Preston North End Starting 11: Stuckmann, Woods, Wright, Huntington, Buchanan, King, Brownhill, Browne, Gallagher, Reid and Little PNE Subs: Jones, Clarke, Kilkenny, Humphrey, Beckford, K.Davies, Ebanks-Blake Full commentary on BBC Radio Norfolk 95.1 & 104.4FM, 855Mhz and DAB Digital Radio with Phil Daley and guest match summariser Bryan Gunn ….............. …............. and don't forget to tune in to 'Canary Call' after the game ! OTBC
That has to be one of the best you have made KIO, even the images seem sharper. I like the flashy line up graphics with the real faces on but I guess it's impossible to guess todays 11. Neiled on win today.
cheers again KIO - not sure where the 'line up graphics' are that SN23 is making reference to, but guess you're on the editing suite as I write to make it even crisper. OTBC - bit nervous about today, as PNE are no mugs at home. Should be a good battle.
I wasn't very clear, i like the addition of the line up and formation graphics on the last threads but there isn't one yet probably because we don't know who will start.
Forgive my negativity, but I have the horrible feeling we are going to be on the end of quite a bad beating (relatively), 2-0 to PNE is the feeling I have in my water,
Great match thread as always KIO. It will be difficult against PNE today as they are hard to beat and have been going well under Grayson. It could well end up as a draw. Was our biggest winning margin against them a 5-1 home win in the milk cup on our way to wembley? Asa Hartford made his debut and scored twice?
Afternoon lads thanks for the kind words, finally got to grips with the new 'editor' last night. After a bit of swearing and cursing I finally managed to post the OP ! While I understand the need to move servers I must say that this new site is nowhere near as user friendly as the last and I may have to pick and choose which games to do match threads for in the future. What would normally take me 1-2 hours took about 4 last night !! Perhaps when I'm used to the idiosyncrasies it will become easier. Unlike before, there now appears to be a limit on how many characters you're able to post so I had to edit this thread several times before I was happy with it. Basically I had to leave out a hell of a lot of the player history / club connections bit in order to post what I thought were fairly comprehensive match previews. If people would prefer less pre match stuff and more historical stats instead please let me know your thoughts ? Anyway, with regard to today's game I'm not feeling too confident ............... 2-1 Preston
You don't need to pack in too much stuff KIO even if i read the broadsheets I am drawn to the little line ups graphic as I am never certain who is playing where . What the gaffer says injuries and a bit of history. Agree about the new site kind of like Windows 8 very blue and annoying to use.
Hoolahan on the left wing? I can see why Adams didn't play Rudd after the 5-0 mauling by Chelsea u21s he doesn't want another Luton on his hands, Carlisle last time wasn't it. 8-5 Norwich Hooper getting 6
Quite a strong line-up - seems to indicate either a) He takes it seriously and wants to win it ........... or b) He's looking to give some game time to those challenging for a first team place Didn't expect Ruddy and Redders to be starting that's for sure.
Now all you need is the woosh noise as each player get's a close up and Gary Neville's monotone voice and it could be Sky Sports .
Strange team line up. Garrido on the bench and Miquel at LB. Ruddy in goal. Why? Surely this is a game to give Rudd experience.
