Floodlights will be on in mid afternoon for the first afternoon game in winter hours, the first visitors to illuminate the ground are those lovable scousers with their fans who have the bizarre belief that they are a big club. Ronnie Moore had some pressure removed from his shoulders after beating the Franchise last Saturday, with a couple of goals from veteran striker Ryan Lowe. Interesting selection for Grayson will Gallagher start? think it's a cheapo ticket game so might drag a few floaters in, we could do with a good home win. But will half man half biscuit turn up or will they be looking through Dickie Davies eyes?
A frustrating afternoon for the home fans in a gate of 9800 as Preston drew with Tranmere Rovers at Deepdale on a windy and sometimes wet afternoon, only a late Joe Garner headed saved the home side from defeat. North End struggled all afternoon to break down the visitors 9-0-1 formation in which the main tactic seemed to be hammer it long and let Ryan Lowe chase after it, which the veteran forward did with aplomb. An early Rudd save kept the visitors from taking an early lead, but the traffic was mainly one way towards the Tranmere goal, saying that though North End final pass was abysmal, many chances going begging due to dire distribution. North End main efforts came down the left hand side of the pitch were Gallagher and Laird linked well. The home side were unlucky just before the break when Keane got the ball past Fon Williams in the Rovers goal, however his shot lacked power and was cleared to Welsh whose 20 yard shot narrowly missed. Out of the blue the visitors took the lead in the second half, Keane appeared to be fouled, nothing was given and the ball up field found the home defence sadly wanting as Atkinson cooly curled the ball round Rudd from just outside the box. (0-1) North End responded by making three changes however they were struggling to create anything worthwhile. Lowe nearly capitalised on some dodgy defending but Rudd saved the day. Rovers had now gone to a 10-0-0 formation, it worked for a while, they wasted time, fell over at the slightest contact which fooled the referee, many a time. Then with the clock on 90 minutes North End broke down the left and for once a cross was perfect, Garner rose above the defender to power home a header. (1-1) Both sides went close from free kicks with Garner and Koumas being the takers. Lastly a word about the officials, CLUELESS Preston North End 1 Tranmere Rovers 1 Att 9600
