[themaclad]

Preston North End v Blackburn Rovers

Deepdale 5.30pm 22 April 2023 Sky TV

FORM GUIDE

PNE 11 PLASTICS 4

LAST TIME OUT



It is always good for keepers to score late goals especially this lot

MANAGER

Jon Dahl Tomasson (Danish pronunciation: [ˈtsʰomæsʌn]; born 29 August 1976) is a Danish football manager and former player who is the current head coach of EFL Championship club Blackburn Rovers.

A forward, his most notable run of football came in his first stint at Feyenoord, with whom he won the 2002 UEFA Cup, and Italian club AC Milan, with whom he won the UEFA Champions League in 2003 and reached the final in 2005. He also played top-flight football in England, Germany and Spain. He is the joint all-time top goalscorer for the Denmark national team with 52 goals in 112 games and was also honoured with the Danish Player of the Year award in both 2002 and 2004. He played at the UEFA European Championship in 2000 and 2004 and the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2010.

After his playing career, Tomasson went into coaching, being both assistant and manager in the Netherlands, before becoming assistant manager in the Denmark national team under Åge Hareide. In 2020, Tomasson became the manager of Malmö FF and left two years later after winning the Swedish championship for two consecutive seasons. In June 2022, he signed a three-year deal at Blackburn Rovers.



Going back to the early 1990's this used to be one of my watering holes, basically it was on the border between us and them support was split but you accepted the fact their supporters needed special needs help.
Anyway along comes Uncle Jack with his money and the fairweather North End supoorters suddenly became glory hunters and switched sides. Deserving of life behind bars .
This means more than the Blackpool game cannot stand them



In The Dressing Room

An update on team news will be provided in the pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s game.

A Look At Our Visitors

Heading into the weekend’s round of fixtures, Blackburn Rovers are occupying the final Play-Off position, but come Saturday’s 5.30pm kick-off the table may look differently.

Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side have been in the top six pretty much all season long, but one win in their last seven games has seen other clubs close the gap on the Play-Off spots.

Rovers have some tough games coming up between now and the end of the season too, with their final three matches after Saturday being against sides in the top five of the division – including fierce rivals and league leaders Burnley.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 110
PNE wins: 46
Draws: 30
Blackburn Rovers wins: 34
Last meeting: Blackburn Rovers 1-4 PNE, 10th December 2022

One To Watch

Academy graduate Hayden Carter is enjoying his best year with Rovers yet, having featured over 30 times in all competitions this term.

The central defender spent last season on loan with League One side Portsmouth and he returned to Ewood Park a better player for it.

Having become a regular in the heart of defence, Carter was rewarded with a long-term deal at the end of March 2023, keeping him with Rovers until June 2027.

Match Officials

Premier League official Rob Jones will be the man in the middle this weekend.

It will be the first time Jones has taken charge of North End since February 2022 – a goalless draw at Deepdale against Huddersfield Town.

Jones has officiated 25 games so far this campaign, showing 97 yellow cards in that period, and he will this weekend be assisted by Constantine Hatzidakis and Wade Smith, while Jeremy Simpson will be on fourth official duties.

MACS VIEW

The strange land that is the Champonship provides another 6 pointer on Saturday given our last two results it is just mad that if we win this one we go above them in the table, personal view this is the last chance saloon for us also would be nice to take 6 points from them this season. My last Saturday game  as cricket starts next week.

[Lord Snooty]

Szmodics! What a cheat!

[themaclad]

Preston North End 1 Hyam og Blackburn Rovers 1 Szmodics

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Bauer (Woodburn, 76), Hughes; Potts, Whiteman, Onomah (Delap, 83), Johnson (McCann, 70), Fernández; Cannon, Parrott. Subs not used: Cornell, Lindsay, Ledson, Slater.

Blackburn Rovers line-up: Pears; Rankin-Costello, Carter, Hyam, Pickering; Travis, Morton (Brittain, 89), A. Wharton; Thomas (Hedges, 45), Szmodics (S. Wharton, 89), Dolan (Brereton-Diaz, 45). Subs not used: Kaminski, Dack, Garrett.

Attendance: 20,721 (4,932 Blackburn Rovers fans).

Referee: Mr R Jones.

A game which really both sides needed to win ended up as a draw probably terminal to our play off hopes but if we can't do it we'll take them with us.
To be honest Rovers probably deserved the three points but in recent weeks have had a habit of conceding at the end of games and guess what it happened again.
Overall thoroughly entertaning game in front of a raucous crowd had the traditional flares on the pitch plus the usual bell end pitch invader

FIRST HALF

End to end first half, although saying that there were few attempts on goal mainly down to outstanding defending at both ends.
Cannon fired a first time effort after good work by big Josh down the right, Parrott got into a great position but sheer weight of numbers combned to stop him
Rovers had one effort Travis forced a decent save from Woodman although if it had gone in there would have been complaints as there had been a blatant hand ball down the other end of the pitch which was missed.
The returning Pat Bauer had a good first half in his first start since the reverse meeting in December, adds a bit of calm does the German.

SECOND HALF

Two changes for Rovers at half times Hedges and the Chilean from Stoke On Trent, apart from a five minute spell where we had a succession of corners which led to Bauer having a header cleared from the line it was all one way towards our goal.
With the two substitutions Rovers added width to the team and having a left footed winger in the shape of Hedges on the right wing caused us issues, only a briliant clearence by Whiteman saved us from a possible goal.
Rovers had the ball in the net on the hour, disallowed due to Szmodics punching it in duly booked for a balatant bit of gamesmanship.
Travis missed horribly and Rankin-Costello fired wide from a good position.
We made changes went to a back four and promptly conceded, to be fair the aforementioned Szmodics finish was quality curling it passed Woodman into the far corner.
Just before the end McCann denied by Pears good save by the keeper
Almost the end of our play off hopes but then came 15 seconds which just about kept the dream alive, Hedges in absolutely miles of space one on one with Woodman gently chipped the ball ino the keeper's hands, Woodman cleared down field Potts header on to Delap who got goal side of the defender, his cross was majestically diverted past his own keeper by Hyam bit harsh on them but as they say life's a bitch at the end of a belting game players from both sides slumped to the floor both teams seemed to be aware of the implications of the result