Match Day Thread Preston North End v Hull City Deepdale 7/8/21

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VENUE

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HULL CITY MANAGER

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Grant Samuel McCann (born 14 April 1980) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder in the Football League. He is the manager of EFL Championship club Hull City.

Born in Belfast, McCann played in the Distillery youth system from 1995 until signing for the West Ham United Academy of Football in 1996, where he started his professional career.[2][3] He made his debut on 19 May 2001 in a 2–1 away defeat to Middlesbrough.[4] McCann also won 39 caps for Northern Ireland after making his senior debut against Malta in 2001, with the last of his 39 caps won in a 6–0 friendly defeat against the Netherlands in June 2012.

Managerial career
Peterborough United
On 16 May 2016, McCann was appointed Peterborough United manager on a four-year contract.[21] He was named League One Manager of the Month for August 2017, after his team got off to a flying start at the beginning of the season.[22] On 25 February 2018, he was sacked after no wins in seven matches.[23]

Doncaster Rovers
On 27 June 2018, McCann was announced as the new Doncaster Rovers manager.[24] He led them to the play-offs on the final day of the season, 4 May 2019, with a 2–0 win over Coventry City. They finished in sixth place in the League One table.[25] They lost to Charlton Athletic in the play-off semi-final stages. After two legs the aggregate score was 4–4 with Charlton winning 4–3 on penalties.[26]

Hull City
McCann was appointed as head coach of Championship club Hull City on 21 June 2019 on a one-year rolling contract.[27] City vice-chairman and son of owner Assem Allam, Ehab Allam said of McCann’s appointment, "Grant has been a standout candidate with a playing style and philosophy aligned to that of the Club. With a great team of existing staff in their support and of the squad too, I hope for an exciting season ahead."[28] On 14 July 2020, Hull lost 8–0 at Wigan Athletic, equalling their record loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 1911. The result put Hull in the bottom three by one point having won once in their past 18 games with 14 defeats.[29] Hull were relegated to League One in 24th and bottom place following a 3–0 defeat by Cardiff City on 22 July. Despite the relegation, McCann said he hoped to manage the team in the upcoming season.[30]

McCann immediately led the team back to the Championship as League One Champions, winning promotion with two matches left to play after a 2–1 victory at Lincoln City.[31] The title was secured the following match with a 3–1 victory over Wigan Athletic, as second placed Peterborough United were held to a 3–3 draw, a result that still saw them promoted.[32] McCann was awarded a number of individual awards over the season, winning the League One Manager of the Month for both January 2021[33] and April 2021.[34]

HULL CITY 1970/71

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LAST MEETING

PNE 2 HULL CITY 1

HULL CITY FORUM

https://www.not606.com/forums/hull-city.41/

LAST THREE RESULTS

HULL 1 MANSFIELD 2
SCUNTHORPE 0 HULL 1
SUNDERLAND 2 HULL 1

Frankie says

Frankie McAvoy has issued a rallying cry to Preston North End supporters to get behind him and his players this weekend in the first game of the season.

Hull City come to Deepdale on Saturday for the opening game of the new Championship campaign and it will mark the first competitive fixture of Frankie’s spell as permanent head coach.

He’s hoping that his players, together with the supporters in the stands, can make the stadium a difficult place to come to.

“What we need to do, and I ask this honestly, is that they get behind the players and they make Deepdale a real difficult venue for anybody that comes to play us and that begins on Saturday against Hull City.

“I think if you’ve got everybody behind you, supporting you, then they really become that 12th man, I don’t think there’s any question or doubt about that. That’s what I’m hoping we manage to do on Saturday and it’s fruitful for us and we get a positive result.”

Frankie is well aware that Saturday will be an emotional occasion for many supporters as they come through the turnstiles again after such a long time away, but it will also be a special day for him and his backroom staff.

He said: “It’s an absolute honour and a privilege to be the head coach of Preston North End, I’ve said that and I truly mean that. It’ll be a great day for myself and my family, and my friends and people that know me.

“But also for the likes of Gally [Paul Gallagher] and his family, Tommo [Steve Thompson] and his family, big Mike [Pollitt], and everybody connected with us as a group. It’s the first time that we as a group will be able to go and meet the supporters along with a lot of the players that have not had the opportunity or chance to play in front of the crowd.

“I’ve had the opportunity as a coach with Alex [Neil] to see just how good the Preston support can be playing at Deepdale. It’s got a special place in a lot of people’s hearts and I know and understand the importance of every game that you go and play to the supporters.

“They want to see you go and do well, particularly at home, and I’m hoping and praying and putting my faith and trust in the group that we’ve got that they can go and deliver on Saturday.”

It will be newly-promoted Hull City standing in the way of Frankie’s men and given their success last season, he is anticipating a difficult challenge, as with any game in the Championship.

He's not too interested, though, in putting large amounts of focus on the opposition, and instead is getting his own team ready as best as he can.

He said: “It’s difficult when you get relegated to try and bounce back at the next attempt, Grant [McCann] has done that with the group of players he’s got and that’s credit to him and credit to his backroom team, so we’re expecting a tough and difficult game.

“I’ve said to you before that anybody in the Championship can beat anybody on their day, so for me it’ll be a tough game but my main focus is on how we approach it. We will try and approach it with positivity and we’ll go and try and win the game.”

Club view

Championship football is back this weekend and so are supporters, as Preston North End kick off the 2021/22 campaign against Hull City.

For the first time since March 2020, the North End faithful will be able to retake their seats inside Deepdale for a first team fixture, and it’ll also be the first time they get to see Frankie McAvoy in his new role of head coach.

Supporters may also get the chance to see certain players live in action for the first time, with the likes of Ben Whiteman, Daniel Iversen and Ched Evans all yet to play in front of a Deepdale crowd since joining the club.

Overseas supporters can watch this fixture live on iFollow PNE - find more information about that here.

PNE Team News

Head coach Frankie McAvoy told iFollow PNE he has almost a fully fit squad to pick from for this weekend’s game.

Summer signings Izzy Brown and Matthew Olosunde will both be missing, with the latter just a short-term worry, whereas Izzy will be out for a longer period after suffering an Achilles injury during pre-season training.

Frankie also admitted to having some very tough decisions to make all over the pitch in terms of team selection, especially given that rules on substitutions have reverted to what they were before Covid.

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The Opposition

Hull City head into the new season no doubt beaming with confidence following their success in League One during the 2020/21 campaign.

They finished top of the division, bouncing straight back following their relegation from the Championship in the season prior.

The Tigers have strengthened over the summer, too, bringing in the likes of former Luton Town midfielder George Moncur and Randell Williams from Exeter City.

They are, however, set to be missing some key men on Saturday afternoon, with club captain George Honeyman sidelined through injury, while last season’s top scorer Mallik Wilks has missed the whole of pre-season and is in doubt for this fixture.

Key Stats

While Wilks may be missing for the visitors, Hull have plenty of other goal threats, with forwards Josh Magennis and Keane Lewis-Potter scoring 31 League One goals between them last season.

The missing Honeyman was the main source of creation in the side, though, with his 13 league assists proving crucial in their promotion campaign, so the Tigers will need to look for other playmakers to step up in his absence.

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Throughout the history of this fixture, PNE have the better of the record, with 28 wins from the 62 meetings, compared to Hull’s 20.

Our Last Meeting

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PNE 2 Hull City 1, Sky Bet Championship, 22nd February 2020.

The Lilywhites came from behind to beat a struggling Hull side in early 2020 in what proved to be the penultimate home game prior to the season’s suspension.

Wilks opened the scoring for the visitors in the first half, but a trademark Paul Gallagher penalty on 67 minutes got PNE back into the game.

It took North End just four minutes to then take the lead, with Jayden Stockley providing a wonderful cross from the left for Alan Browne to head home inside the area.

Man In The Middle

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Referee Gavin Ward will be the man to take charge of Saturday’s game, assisted by Mark Dwyer and Lee Venamore, with Christopher Sarginson as fourth official.

Ward, from Surrey, had the whistle for two of PNE’s Championship games last season, overseeing the Lilywhites’ 3-2 victory at AFC Bournemouth before coming to Deepdale in February for the visit of Rotherham United.

Other notable North End fixtures which Ward has taken charge of include the 5-1 home victory against Barnsley in 2019, but he was the man to send off Jordan Pickford against Leeds back in 2015.

MACS VIEW

Well it feels like a bit like Christmas Eve, something special will be happening tomorrow for the first time since 7/3/2020 we will be back in Deepdale to welcome the players and fans of both PNE and Hull. Interestingly Hull were the last side we beat in front of fans 17 months ago.
Apart from occasional glimpses of the floodlight when I've been on the M61 have not been near the ground since the QPR match.
We have had the soulless behind closed doors game which after our home defeat against Millwall last October I stopped watching altogether just was not watching football should be like.
Given the United postponement last weekend it's the first game for all home supporters although some managed to get in a few spectators in, us in diseased Lancashire never had that luxury.
Will be odd tomorrow doing something that was the norm but hopefully behind the doors games will hopefully be behind us and we can look forward to real misery/happiness watching your team
Sadly there will be a few over the last 16 months who will never be back and not from just Covid however a lot of old friendships will be revived and normality will return.
Big welcome to those who have travelled from the wrong side of the Pennines,

OTHER GAMES

Friday
Bornemouth v WBA

Saturday

Plastics v Swansea
Brizzle v Lashers
Cardiff v Barnsley
Direby v Terriers
Luton v Posh
QPR v Millwall
Blunts v Brum
Stoke v Reading

FA Cup starts on Friday as well

 

Preston North End 1 Riis Hull City 4 Lewis-Potter, Smallwood, Magennis,Cannon

PNE line-up: Rudd (Iversen, 13); Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Barkhuizen, Ledson, Whiteman (Johnson, 70), Browne (c), Cunningham (van den Berg, 46); Evans, Riis (Potts, 46). Subs not used: Bauer, Rodwell-Grant, Thomas.

Hull City line-up: Ingram, Coyle, Greaves, Jones, Smallwood (c), Wilks (Smith, 80), Docherty, Lewis-Potter (Scott, 90), Emmanuel, Moncur (Cannon, 90), Magennis (Eaves, 89). Subs not used: Baxter, Fleming, Bernard.

Attendance: 12,452 (1,798 Hull City fans)

Referee: Mr G Ward

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Was going well up to this point

Well the last time I was on the ground we were 1 up and lost flash forward 17 months and we were at it again only Hull scored one more than QPR.
Not a lot of positives to take out of this apart from the fact we were back in a ground watchng the team
The match lasted 100 minutes and we played in about 10 minutes of that time. Three players were self isolating, Bayliss, Maguire and Sinclair however we still had 11 on the pitch who on the day didn't perform although a shout out to Evans who worked his socks off for little reward

FIRST HALF

An early injurt to Rudd after head butting Lewis-Potter's boot as he chased a ball over the top , he did the same thing later on in the half with more success. Rudd was down for about three minutes, before getting to his feet.
When play started again Barkhuizen in acres of space ball to the back post decent finish by Riis, apart from a shot later in the half he didn't have the best of halves.
Rudd then went down again and was replaced by Iversen and for the rest of the half we were barely at the races, Coyle was running the game from right back looked the best player on the pitch as our 352 system was misfunctioning, they got plenty of joy against both wing backs and after a period of ball possession, a ball behind the right back in ran Lewis-Potter easy as you like 1-1, hanging on until the break.

SECOND HALF

Two substitutions Van Den Berg and Potts on for Cunningham and Riis, 442 instantly better Barkhuizen curled on wide and should really have put us ahead when through on goal on both occasions Ingram saved well.
Then it was back to chasing shadows, the second had a bit of fortune Smallwood's shot seemed to take a slight deflection wrong foot Iversen dribbled towards goal and in it went.
Offered little after that did have an outlet in Van Den Berg but ponderous build up didn't help us.
The third by Magennis from a cross from Lewis-Potter to the near post Magennis thought process was fair quicker than our defenders. Time for some of the faithful to depart, they missed another for Hull, Lindsay kept the ball from going out however Cannon who had just come on fired past Iversen from an acute angle

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Hull City manager Grant McCann told BBC Radio Humberside:

"To come anywhere in the Championship and win is very tough, so to come here and win in the manner we did is brilliant for everyone.

"I was really proud of the players and the fans and to send them home happy with four goals and three points is great for us and a long time coming since we had any fans in any stadium.

"We know we've got goals in the team for sure, but in terms of the whole game, the control in our performance and the way we were so calm was excellent. It's a good start for us and hopefully we continue with that."

Preston North End manager Frankie McAvoy told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I'm bitterly, bitterly disappointed with the result, to be honest.

"We started well and scored a good goal, but after scoring, we ended up in a defensive mode. They started to control the ball a bit and I could see their goal coming.

"We changed it in the second half and looked a lot more threatening and had two great chances to take the lead. Their second goal was a massive deflection which took it away from Daniel (Iversen), but the third and four goals were extremely poor defending from our point of view."


Mansfield away now looks an difficult game

 

A very fair reflection of the game, good luck for the rest of the season.

 

Won't be watching this but here are the lowlights with a Hull slant on them

 

The least said about it the better!