Birmingham City v Preston North End Championship 3pm kick off The word on the street is that Happy Arry could be only a game or two away from the exit door at St Andrews. having lost the last five and not won in seven pressure is mounting on Harry from Sandbanks. Spent a fortune during the transfer window bringing in about 13 players mainly from Brentford, sadly for Redknapp his biggest signing Jota appeared to go off with a hamstring strain which added to Che Adams injury is a major blow to the Blues. He has recruited well although at the moment they have not quite clicked, Gallagher from Southampton on loan plus Jenkinson from Arsenal also on loan pus a couple of younsters on loan from Chelsea and Arsenal. Apparently they are playing well and Arry thinks that they will have no problems getting into the play offs, (let's see how that pans out) Johnson is said to be back in the frame for North End with Pearson targeting the Millwall game to get his next booking, should be an unchanged side however Mr Neil does tend to surprise with team selection so we'll have to wait and see. Sold 1500 so far out of the original allocation of 1500 apparently we may exceed that, one slight worry is we beat Cardiff 3-0 this time last year then promptly lost 5-0 at Brentford that day if memory serves me right the referee was K Stroud and guess who we have on Saturday. Neil Targets First Away Win After picking up ten points from a possible 12 at home so far this season, Alex Neil is now targeting his first win on the road as North End boss. After picking up ten points from a possible 12 at home so far this season, Alex Neil is now targeting his first win on the road as North End boss. The Lilywhites have picked up points at Elland Road and the Riverside this season, with the only defeat coming against Derby County, a penalty the difference in that game. The gaffer now wants to make sure his side are picking up the points the performances deserve, starting with a trip to St Andrew's to face Birmingham City on Saturday. On the away form, the manager said: "I think for this team and for us to really kick on this year we need to go away to difficult grounds and win three points. "I think this season two of our best performances have been on the road which was Leeds and Middlesbrough. I thought we were great in both games but ultimately we didn't win either and I thought we should have. "So I think the next step for us to be a real force to be reckoned with is to go away to difficult venues and manage to win." Neil has every confidence that his side has the capabilities to go to the top sides in the division and win games. "I don't think there's any question that we can do it, I think performances have suggested that but I think the longer it goes on without that game then questions start to rise." He continued. "I'm more than confident that we will go to Birmingham and put in a good performance and if we do that, we give ourselves a good chance of winning. "Anybody who has watched us away from home will know we approch the game in the exact same manner, if anything we have probably been more aggressive at Leeds and at Middlesbrough. "We don't go to any ground and be scared of the opposition, we want to go there and take the game to them and try and win so that's exactly how we will go about it." Harry Redknapp is hopeful that the hamstring injuries sustained by Jota and Che Adams are not too serious and that the duo have picked up strains rather than tears. The pair were injured in the latter stages of Blues’ midweek defeat away at Leeds United and will now undergo scans to ascertain the full extent of their injuries. “I think they are strains hopefully, but they are going to be a few weeks - three or four weeks. It's a bit of a blow,” said the Blues boss. “Che Adams was on his way back (from a hamstring injury on the other leg). “We didn’t want to start him at Leeds. “We felt he needed another 30 minutes or half-hour and he’d be ready to play this weekend. “But unfortunately, he did the opposite hamstring to the one that he had before. “He’d never had a hamstring injury before, so it’s amazing. “And Jota, who we brought from Brentford - our record signing, he did a hamstring as well with about 10 minutes to go, so he’s not available.” LAST TIME OUT FOR BIRMINGHAM 13 David Stockdale 5 Maxime Colin 28 Michael Morrison 12 Harlee Dean 2 Emilio Nsue 17 Cheikh Ndoye 26 David Davis Jacques Maghoma 80' 21 Jason Lowe 20 Jeremie Boga 27 José Ignacio Peleteiro Ramallo Liam Walsh 80' 18 Sam Gallagher Che Adams 69' Substitutes 19 Jacques Maghoma 10 Lukas Jutkiewicz 24 Liam Walsh 3 Jonathan Grounds 14 Che Adams 29 Tomasz Kuszczak 4 Marc Roberts Stat Attack: Birmingham City please log in to view this image Names have played an important part in the history of today’s opponents. The first four away fixtures we played against them were not as Birmingham City, but under their previous name of Small Heath, the area of Birmingham in which the club was formed in 1875. please log in to view this image They only became Birmingham in 1905 and did not add ‘City’ to their title until 1943. Our first five league games were played at their Muntz Street ground (probably one of the most commonly misspelt names for a football stadium), before they moved to St Andrews since 1906. No matter what name we have played them under or where, our away record against the Blue Noses has not been as good as at Deepdale. We only took two points from our first eight visits, before finally gaining a victory in 1913 and Ross Wallace’s late winner eight years ago was only the eighth time we have returned home with all the points. However, we are undefeated in the last three fixtures and have won two of the last five at St Andrews, losing only once. Our first ever league game at Muntz Street is notable, as it was the first time we had ever drawn a league match 4-4! In fact, we have only recorded that scoreline seven times in our history and six of those have come in away matches. please log in to view this image Players to have appeared for both clubs include Darren Carter, Archie Gemmill, Howard Kendall and Neil Kilkenny. On This Date Former goalkeeper Wayne Henderson was born today in 1983. Yet another Irishman to play for North End, Wayne’s time at Deepdale was dogged by injury and he was forced to retire in 2011 after on ten games following his move from Brighton four years earlier. One of a select group of brothers to appear together in North End’s first team, Mark Jones is 57 today. Mark played alongside his brother David, the former Southampton, Wolves and Cardiff City manager, in our defence during the 1984/85 season. Callum Robinson made the first of his four debuts for North End three years ago today, in a 3-3 home draw with Chesterfield. This was the match in which Eoin Doyle’s hat-trick for the Spireites saw them come back from being three goals down in less than half an hour to draw in the final minute. please log in to view this image Brian McBride became the first American to play for North End when he made his debut today in 2000. Brian was another player whom we saw too little of in a North End shirt due to injury, a blood clot in his arm keeping him out of action for three months. Although he only made 11 appearances, which brought a solitary goal against QPR, he made an excellent impression during his time at Deepdale and is well regarded by North End, Everton and Fulham fans. Last Five Fixtures At St Andrews Birmingham City 2 (Shotton, Adams) Preston North End 2 (Baptiste, Johnson), 27th Sept 2016 Birmingham City 2 (Donaldson, 2) Preston North End 2 (Browne, Cunningham), 19th Apr 2016 Birmingham City 1 (Fahey) Preston North End 2 (McKenna, Wallace), 25th Apr 2009 Birmingham City 3 (McSheffrey, 3) Preston North End 1 (Ormerod), 9th Dec 2006 Birmingham City 0 Preston North End 2 (Fuller, Lewis), 5th Nov 2002 Birmingham City v Preston North End KEITH STROUD James Mainwaring and Nick Greenhalgh Fourth Official: Darren Handley
Birmingham City 1 Preston North End 3 Colin (35' minutes) Johnson (56' minutes), Hugill (60' minutes), Barkhuizen (67' minutes) Birmingham 13Stockdale 2Nsue 12Dean 28Morrison 5Colin 17Ndoye Substituted for Jutkiewiczat 68'minutes 21Lowe Substituted for Walshat 4'minutes 26Davis Booked at 23mins 19Maghoma Booked at 54mins 18Gallagher Substituted for Vassell at 61'minutes 20Boga Substitutes 4Roberts 8Gardner 10Jutkiewicz 11Vassell 15Bramall 24Walsh 29Kuszczak Preston 22Maxwell 15Woods Substituted for Vermijl at 80'minutes 23Huntington 20Davies 32Earl Booked at 31mins 8Browne 11Johnson Booked at 57mins Substituted fo rRobinsonat 90+2'minutes 24Maguire 10HarropSubstituted for Welsh at 69'minutes Booked at 70mins 29Barkhuizen 9Hugill Booked at 27 mins Substitutes 2Vermijl 7Horgan 17Spurr 19Welsh 27Mavididi 28Hudson 37Robinson Referee: Keith Stroud Attendance: 21,168 Goodbye Harry Redknapp, following the home defeat against the Whites suspect that Harry will never ever manage a club again, no more travelling up from his comfy life at Sandbanks to watch his side fall apart at an alarming rate in the second half conceding three. Two changes for North End Johnson and Woods for Fisher and Welsh, the first half was pretty poor fair sadly both sides tended to wallop it skywards which didn't help the game. North End were nearly gifted an early goal when Dean nearly sliced a clearence past Stockdale. Gallagher should have scored but headed wide whgen he should really have hit the target. The only bit of skill in the first half was City's goal, Colin got in down the left side, dummied Maguire before fiiring home past Maxwell, possible question marks on Maxwell's postioning. North End should have been level but Hugill screwed his shot horribly wide after a good pass by Harrop. North End made one tacticle change half time Barkuizen switched wing from left to right to stop the danger which had mainly come down the Blues left, it was a move that signalled the end for Harry. Two early shots from Harrop and Browne were saved by Stockdale who seems to have eaten a few pies since he joined the Blues. Then came the goals first up, Johnson, picked up the ball about 40 yards out ambled forward as City defenders backed off, then curled it past Stockdale from 20 yards. The second Barkuizen harried a defender for about five minutes winning the ball, Harrop to Hugill deflected shot 2-1, Then a fine Johnson through ball to Maguire, no defenders in sight, squared the ball to Barkuizen couldn't miss, didn'y points in the bag and a P45 for Harry. North End sat back from then on in, soaked up presseure as the Blues never looked like getting back in the game. On the third goal City fans started to leave in droves and at the end the letters BCFC were almost readable in the home end. Did enjoy's DJ's goal celebrations in front of the Blues supporter, two water bottles were thrown at the ex Villa player, he also got a booking but was he bothered, not in the slightest. Man of the Match Barkuizen staring to get back to top form after a slow start following his pre season hernia operation. Up to fourth early days yet but there is a bit of belief that this could be a rather sexy season. Preston manager Alex Neil: "I made the players aware at half-time that I expected more from them in the second half. "I got the response I wanted and I could not have asked any more. We had bits of quality to finish off moves we had at the time. "I gave them a hard time at half-time and they responded well to come back after trailing by a single goal."
'Arry's gone.Never did rate him highly. Nearly ruined Nugent at Pompey. Thank goodness he did not get the England job. Merely a darling of the southern based media.
