Bristol City v Preston North End
Bristol City v Preston North End
Sunday 4th May, 2007
Coca-Cola Championship
Ashton Gate, 2pm kick-off
When Preston North End were beaten by Sheffield Wednesday in the first game of 2008 the Lilywhites were left rooted to the bottom of the Coca-Cola Championship, Sunday's opponents meanwhile were basking in the glory of joint leadership of the division. At that point of the campaign the prospect of the Lilywhites and Robins clashing on the last game of the season looked a mouthwatering prospect for the neutral and something of a nailbiter for the fans of the respective clubs involved. But while 2008 has thus far been a good year for Alan Irvine's men, they escaped the threat of relegation with games to spare, Gary Johnson's Bristol have seen their automatic promotion hopes go up in smoke, so much so that Sunday's match has nothing more than pride at stake.
Alan Irvine is determined that North End's season doesn't end on a sour note, the Lilywhites showed plenty of determination and courage to battle back against Play-Off chasing Ipswich last week and though they failed to win a game in April they have now just lost one of their last ten games, a record which shows that Preston are now very hard to beat.
The North End boss will have a few selection dilemmas for the trip to Bristol, Sean St. Ledger has made a speedy recovery from hamstring problems and the Club's Player of the Year will be keen to get some final game time before the season end. But Neal Trotman made an impressive debut and Youl Mawene is unlikely to relinquish his place in the team without a fight. Irvine also has decisions to make in attack, Chris Brown and Neil Mellor both scored in last weekend's 2-2 draw against Ipswich but the PNE gaffer might just want a look at West Brom's Craig Beattie before he returns to the Hawthorns.
Though Bristol City are safe in the knowledge that they have achieved a place in the Play-Offs, the Robins know that if they maintain fourth position then will have the crucial second-leg on home soil. Gary Johnson is not expecting an easy game against a Preston side who he recognises has done very well in 2008.
"The good thing is we know we're one of the teams in the play-offs and we can start our build-up for that with a decent show against Preston," the Bristol boss said ahead of the game.
"Preston have finished the season strongly and Alan Irvine has done an excellent job in his six months in charge at Deepdale.
"They will be keen to finish with a win because their form this year has been excellent."
The League Table
A win at Ashton Gate could see the Lilywhites jump to a respectable 14th position in the league, in the process leap-frogging QPR who are at West Brom. There are potentially four clubs who could overtake PNE at the weekend, the aim must be to stay above Blackpool in the table. Bristol can move no higher than fourth though a defeat could see them drop to sixth in the table and would mark a sharp decline in the fortunes of the Robins.
Matt Hill
The left-back has been reminding Alan Irvine all week that Bristol City is his former club and Hill has even joked that it would be great to score his first goal for the Lilywhites against the team where he started his career. Whether Irvine allows sentiment to sway his team selection remains to be seen but if Hill does make the starting eleven on Sunday he's sure to have a great day.
Hill spent six years at Ashton Gate making more than 200 appearances for the Robins before moving to Deepdale in January 2005. During his time with the Lilywhites the full-back has made more than 100 starts but has been limited to just 20 first-team starts in the league this season, last season's Player of the Year having to battle with Callum Davidson for the left-back berth.
Hill scored six goals during his time with Bristol City but he has never scored a goal in Preston North End colours.
Dele Adebola
Bristol City have tried a number of striking combinations over the course of their first season back in the Championship and their lack of goals has been well documented, they're in fourth position yet they have a -2 goal difference, just one goal better than relegation threatened Leicester City.
The Robins' current top scorer is former PNE loanee Darren Byfield with eight league strikes but hot on his heels is January signing Dele Adebola. The big targetman has grabbed six goals in the 15 starts he has made since signing on deadline day in January, coincidentally all his goals have come in games where the result was 2-1.
Adebola also scored in another 2-1 game against PNE earlier in the season when he scored the winner for Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena.
Last Time Out
PNE 2 Ipswich 2
Preston: Lonergan, Hart, Mawene, Trotman, Davidson, Sedgwick, McKenna, Chaplow, Lewis Neal (Whaley 78), Brown, Mellor
Subs not used: Chris Neal, Hawley, Carter, Hill,
Sheffield United 2 Bristol City 1
Bristol City: Basso, Orr, McCombe, Carey, McAllister, Noble, Elliott (Showunmi 76), Carle, McIndoe, Trundle, Adebola
Subs not used Weale, Fontaine, Skuse, Sproule,
Head-To-Head
Things couldn't be tighter between the two sides in terms of head-to-head, the two teams first met in November 1901 and in that time they have met a toal of 80 times with 23 Bristol wins, 23 draws and North End triumphing 24 times. North End's last visit to Ashton Gate saw them win 2-0 as David Moyes' Lilywhites celebrated winning the Second Division Championship, prior to that North End had not won at Bristol since November 1927.
Last Time We Met At Ashton Gate
Bristol City 0 PNE 2
Angel 14, Appleton 53,
English Second Division,
6th May 2000,
Attendance: 11,160
Referee - Iain Williamson
Sunday's match referee is Iain Williamson from Berkshire. In only 18 games this season he has handed out a total of 67 yellow cards and five red cards. In those 18 games six have been home wins, there have been three draws and nine away victories.
The last time Mr Williamson took charge of a Preston game was last season when the Lilywhites dumped Sunderland out of the FA Cup. you have to go all the way back to October 2005 for the last time he officiated a Bristol City game, the Robins lost 1-0 at home to Hartlepool.
Kit
Preston will be turning out in their normal home combination of white shirts, navy shorts and white socks.
Betting
Bristol City Evens, Draw 23/10, Preston 11/4. We must be mad to offer such long odds on an away win, but that's the way we do things at pnebetting.co.uk!
Listen Live
Join us on Whites World from 1.30pm where Matt Morris and Robert Urbani will provide all the big match build-up, with Matt Hardman taking up the hot-seat from 2pm for live full match commentary. Whites World is available now from just £3.99 per month, meaning you can follow North End from anywhere on the globe. Don't forget to send your thoughts and opinions on the game to matchday@pne.com.
