[themaclad]

Venue Deepdale
Kick off 19.45hrs 17/11/2017

First the good news there is no International break for months so proper football can take centre stage, unfortunately for Sky viewers it us and Wanderers, the last time these two sides met at Deepdale it was also on the box and was 0 all and it was a dire game.
Hopefully the viewers and those at the ground will get a better game between one side (Wanderers) who are slowly improving on the field although y the sound of it off the field does still do seem to be be slightly chaotic. The transfer embargo has been lifted but for manager Parkinson it was lifted after the transfer window was shut be interesting to see if he is given funds to get them further up the table
Wanderers recent run has seen them climb off the bottom of the table with good draws against Fulham and Sunderland both away from home and beat Norwich at the Macron so they are in a bit of decent form. Squad wise they have some loan players in Adam Armstrong from Newcastle springs to mind, scored against us for Barnsley last season. A few experienced lads such as Wheater, Henry, Pratley and 103 year old Aaron Wilbraham who also always scores against us, plus the quaintly named Derik he's from Spain you know.
Up front they have Gary I've been tagged Madine who seems to have hit a bit of off the field trouble again and yes he's scored against us as well. Slightly make Wanderers favourites because I have no idea who we will have available to play in the back line.
No Hugill tomorrow night suspended would personally give Mavididi a start however he has been playing for England's Under 20 this week so may be slightly knackered. At the back is anyone's guess Woods, Earl and Davies could be fit but who knows if not available it will be the same back line as at Ipswich although Fisher got injured there as well.
Could be a long night, one other fact not scored a home goal against them since 1992!!!!!!!

Stat Attack: Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers are second amongst the list of clubs we have faced in more than 100 league games, but our history of games against each other goes back to before the foundation of the Football League in 1888.

In terms of league matches, Bolton’s first visit to Deepdale was in only our third match in the competition on 22nd September 1888. Our 3-1 win that day set the pattern for the first few seasons, as we won seven of the first eight games with the other being a draw.

The fifth of those games, our 93rd in the league, featured our 100th goal in the fledgling competition and it was not to be until the ninth attempt that the Trotters grabbed both points, thanks to a 3-2 scoreline.

Honours have been fairly even over the years, the 30 contests to date producing 25 North End wins, 18 draws and 17 victories for our visitors. Although the fixture is averaging almost three goals per game, high scoring matches have been few and far between.
Each club has recorded one 4-0 win, ours way back in 1891 whilst Bolton’s came in 1946, although the Trotters have also scored four on two other occasions. On the other hand, there have only been four goalless draws here, the most recent of these on Bolton’s last visit in 2015.

Given how close the two clubs are geographically, it is not surprising that there have been numerous players to feature for both clubs over the years. Amongst these are some notable names, including last season’s loanee Alex Baptiste, Wembley hat-trick hero Jermaine Beckford, Kevin Davies, Andy Lonergan, Doug Holden and John Thomas.

Someone who spent two spells as a player with both clubs and ended up managing both clubs later in his football career is of course Big Sam Allardyce, who had a spell as caretaker manager at Deepdale before an extended and successful period in charge of Bolton.

On This Date
We have only played three previous league games on this date and all ended in draws. Aston Villa in 1956, Leicester in 1979 and Brentford in 2012 all went home with a point. Coincidentally, our two away games on this date also finished level!

Winger Doug Holden had made over 450 appearances for Bolton in a ten year career and he had been selected for England before he moved to North End 55 years ago. His PNE debut came in a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland on this date in 1962. He went on to play 100 plus games for North End before emigrating to Australia.
Someone with a less memorable career here made his debut five years ago on Friday, Anthony Elding being a Graham Westley signing who left us after only five appearances.

Last Five Games At Deepdale
Preston North End 0 Bolton Wanderers 0, 31st October 2015
Preston North End 0 Bolton Wanderers 2 (Farrelly, Rickets), 1st January 2001
Preston North End 2 (Cartwright, James) Bolton Wanderers 2 (Green, Stubbs), 31st October 1992
Preston North End 2 (Flynn, Joyce) Bolton Wanderers 1 (Philliskirk), 28th March 1992
Preston North End 1 (Wrightson) Bolton Wanderers 2 (Philliskirk, 2 (1 pen)), 2nd February 1991

Ref Watch: Bolton Wanderers


This Friday’s live Sky Sports encounter with local rivals Bolton Wanderers will be officiated by Simon Hooper from Wiltshire.

This is Simon’s first game of the season in charge of the Lilywhites, although he has had fourth official duties earlier in the campaign.

Last season he took charge of PNE three times. Those games were against Fulham on Gentry Day in March, for the League Cup victory over AFC Bournemouth back in September and the league win at Bristol City in December 2016.

The two games the previous season that he took charge of were also long distance games, the 1-1 draw at Ipswich and our 3-0 win at Charlton Athletic back in October 2015.
The match official, who made his first ever trip up to Deepdale from his Wiltshire base for the clash with Walsall in January 2015, is an experienced referee and is now in his tenth season on the EFL list and he has taken charge of PNE in games at Crawley, Southampton and a previous trip to AFC Bournemouth as well.

So far this season he has taken charge of 17 games, issuing 49 cautions and one red and this will already be his third Bolton game of the season, having refereed their opening day of the season at the Macron Stadium, when Leeds United won 3-2 and their 3-0 EFL Cup defeat at West Ham United in mid-September.

The assistants on Friday night will be Daniel Robathan and Akil Howson, whilst Geoff Eltringham will be in the fourth official role.

[themaclad]

Preston North End 0 Bolton Wanderers 0

PNE: Maxwell, Woods, Huntington, Boyle, O'Connor, Pearson, Gallagher (Johnson 75), Barkhuizen, Browne (Harrop 82), Robinson (Horgan 68), Mavididi. Subs (not used): Clarke, Pringle, Welsh, Rudd.

Bolton: Alnwick, Little, Beevers, Wheater, Robinson, Pratley, Henry, Ameobi, Vela (Morais 87), Armstrong (Buckley 72), Madine. Subs (not used): Noone, Derik, Burke, Hall, Howard. Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire) Attendance: 15,213 (3,447 away)

In the end it was a fair result both sides dominated one half but didn't do enough in front of goal to win the game although it has to be said North End went the closest to scoring, no idea how Huntington missed from a centimetre.
Omens were not good one of the floodlight pylons decided to go on strike about 25 minutes before the start therefore the game was delayed by five minutes. Positive team news Woods was fit and Rudd and the long missed Tom Clarke was on the bench for the first time since his injury in April however we are so short of numbers these days the lesser spotted Ben Pringle also was a substitute.
We started well looking more positive then we have done for a few games, took the game to Wanderers and looked dangerous, went close three times in the early stages, Huntington missed the target when basically standing next to the back post, a Boyle header went narrowly wide of the far post and Barkuizen probably connected too well with a header which beat the post. Wanderers slowly got into the game with Amoebi causing problems down the right hand side. Vela went close for Wanderers with a shot from 12 yards which was tipped over by Maxwell but in the main we coped well with Wanderers slight direct play.
Second half never really got going apart from some long range shots only once when Barkuizen got to the by line did we look dangerous. Wanderers closed off our attacking avenues and when the ball was lofted into the boxthe two giants Wheater and Beevers won everything in the air. Going forward Amoebi and Armstrong were starting to get some joy with Woods starting to tire after only one training session and Gallagher in midfield also struggling for us.
Woods did well to clear an Amoebi cross but mostly Wanderers were reduced to shooting from distance mostly threatened their own supporters behind the goal apart from one Henry effort which went narrowly over the top. They caused us problems from set plays due to the height in their side and Buckley looked a danger when he came on, towards the end the visitors looked the more likely winners but we defended pretty well and took our first point in five matches. For Wanderers keeping Henry fit will hel them vastly experienced player no coincidence since they signed him their results have picked up.
As for us a week on the road coming up nigh on 1000 miles will be travelled getting players fit is the problem, bounce games are all good and well need a reserve side though. One major plus point Pearson outstanding and didn't get booked.
See you at Bristol, Tuesday night.