Another of the strugglers take on North End on what is likely to be a cold Deepdale on Tuesday night, Yeovil battling for their lives had a rare home win yesterday beating Bradford 1-0. Worryingly for a North End side which seems to be lacking a bit of confidence they are better away from home. There seems to be a certain amount of alarm from supporters that North End appear to be doomed to the end of season charade again, calls for new blood in midfield especially loud. Grayson has promised changes for Tuesday night, personal view is they should up the tempo in games we make it far to easy for sides to funnel back and defend in deep when playing at home. A big match in the context of the season, anything less than three points may set alarm bells ringing.
The loss of Garner has been a big factor in the recent loss of form. There have been plenty of hances but little accuracy judging from the stats on the BBC. Hopefully, Beckford,with a good record at this level, will find his own form. Why SG left out KD is a mystery to me because he is an effective CF and he draws players to him leaving gaps for others. I also thought it was too early to introduce Johnstone. No doub he is more than competent but there would have been a better cohesion in defence if Stucks had been there.
73 Yeovil fans made the midweek trip to Deepdale, their five hour journey was rewarded by a free pie and a free brew courtesy of the club whilst on the pitch the divisions strugglers were donated a point in their quest to avoid relegation. North End's lowest crowd for 16 years of 7500 saw North End blow two more points in the draw, the game saw North End start with a 3-4-1-2 formation which apart from an initial 10 minute period failed miserable once Johnson had tweaked Yeovil's formation to counter it. No shots on target in the first period by the home side, when the penny dropped Yeovil quickly realised they had a chance or rather three of them, first Moore missed when he should have scored, then the well named Gozie Ugwu was denied by a good save by Johnstone but not for long. In added time Yeovil were awarded a debatable free kick, the ball was not dealt with and Ugwe scored from 10 yards out. A less than impressed home faithful were quick to let the players and management know as they trudged of the pitch that things had to improve. Grayson went 4-4-2 in the second half, but Ugwe fired an effort narrowly wide before limping off injured. From then North End dominated, Brownhill finally brought a save from Steer and a Welsh drive went narrowly wide. It looked like it would be a miserable snowy drive home when 15 minutes from the end the home side scored. A miskick from Johnstone was dummied by Welsh, flicked on by Davies for 60 stone Ebanks-Blake to run onto, he dummied the keeper before rolling the ball into the net off his excessive stomach fat, seriously though it was a quality finish. North End pushed on for victory didn't get and dropped two more points. Misfiring at the moment but the manager cocked up with his first half tactics. Preston North End 1 Yeovil Town 1 Att 7500
All these fancy formations. They just need to learn a)to tackle b)to shoot ON goal. The only diamond shape that I like is the one formed by 3 points.
