Dean Smith brings his Walsall side to Deepdale on Saturday trying to close the gap between themselves and the teams in the play offs, these lads deserve every credit have really overachieved in the last two seasons, have little money to spend but raid other teams reserves and youth set up to produce a really decent Saddlers team. No star men but just have a good team ethic. Some tired legs in the North End ranks after Tuesday's epic suspect Grayson will change the side around, would love to see Brownhill start, gives us a bit of creativity in midfield. Need a win as do the Saddlers could be a good game
Preston's hard fought 2-1 win over Walsall, gives North End a mammoth 17 point lead over the side in 7th place in the league, so barring a catastrophic run of results the worst that can happen now is the play offs. The top two are still in sight although they are 6 points clear of North End. As for the match a collective groan went up when the added time at the end of the second half read 6 minutes, considering North End's inability to keep a lead at home, it was almost inevitable with 10 man Walsall throwing everything to salvage a point and sure enough came a 25 yard shot from outside the box which was heading in until a fantastic Rudd saved diverted it over the top of the bar to safety, not long after the referee blew the final whistle much to the relief of the home fans. There was a chaotic start to the game two goals in the first five minutes from some absolutely hapless defending. North End struck first with the help of the Saddlers Downing, there was nothing wrong with his backpass to the keeper except for the fact the keeper wasn't where he was supposed to be, the scrambling keeper O'Donnell managed to get his hands on the ball sadly for him the ball had already gone over the line for a goal. Within a minute it was North End's turn to gift a goal, Clarke's sadly under hit clearence only dribbled a couple of yards to Mantom who after an initial save hammered the ball home to level the scores. North End regained the lead on the half hour when Wright headed home Gallagher's free kick with the Saddlers back line no where in sight. The result of the half consisted of North End constantly giving the ball away to the visitors who did the same. There were flurries of action and Mantom was inches away from giving the visitors the lead, whilst O'Donnell redeemed himself with two saves from Davies and Keane. North End were camped in the Walsall half for the early stages, but O'Donnell denied Davies although he should have passed to Garner who was in a far better position. Walsall started to push forward with their decent passing style of football although not creating anything like a chance on goal. 10 minutes from the end they were reduced to 10 men when Mantom clattered into Garner, the thud of boot onto shin pad was audible and off he trotted as the red card was whipped out in record speed by the referee, then the nervy ending. Preston North End 2 Walsall 1 Att 10034
Whew! There is some debate on LEP on why NE do not do so well at home. Also on the value of Humphreys. Getting ghe bones of hese debatees is like trying to pick out winkles from their shells!
Personally think Humphrys is better away from home, 352 suits him well but cannot beat a man when he has thew bal
Of he present day wingers/forwards/stikers, there are very few who do take on a defender. Most, when faced by a defender, pass back to the 'wingback'. even Theo Walcott likes the ball around the defender so that he can outpace him. It was refreshing to see Lallana and Oxlaine-Chamberlaine revive the tadition of ball skills.
