Match Day Thread Preston North End v Wycombe Wanderers Deepdale 5/12/2020

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LAST TIME OUT

BOURNEMOUTH 2 PRESTON NORTH END 3

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WYCOMBE WANDERERS 0 STOKE CITY 1

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TRANSFERS IN FOR WANDERERS

They have not paid a fee for anyone in the last window, Stockdale, McCarthy, McCleary as well as Horgan arrived at Adams Park

HEAD TO HEAD

First meeting 27/11/1993 Wanderers won 3-2, their only other victory was at Wembley in the same season. Last meeting at Deepdale corresponded with the arrival of medal winner we won 3-2.

FORM GUIDE

PRESTON NORTH END 8 WYCOMBE WANDERERS 4

MACS VIEW

After Tuesday's out of the blue win at Bournemouth, this is an altogether different test against a side who will give 100% not give up and make it difficult for us on our own turf basically like every other side has at Deepdale this season.
A welcome return to both gaffer Gareth Ainsworth and winger Daryl Horgan who didn't quite fit the the role which Neil wanted him to play.
Will big man Bayo get on still searching for his first goal in the Championship.
Need to be wary of Jacobson's inswinging corners.
They will provide a stern test this is no gimme.
For us no Bauer which is a blow, interesting to note on Tuesday Bayliss got on the pitch before Potts and Harrop maybe a change in guard is coming. Need to build on Tuesday night, won't be easy.

 

Preston North End welcome fan favourite Gareth Ainsworth and his Wycombe Wanderers side to Deepdale for the next test in the SkyBet Championship.

The Chairboys manager and the PNE faithful are probably equally as disappointed this one can’t be in front of the fans, who would no doubt have given him a great welcome on his return to PR1… at least until kick-off.

However, the Lilywhites and those watching at home on iFollow PNE will be looking for their side to pick up another positive result after Tuesday night’s latest away win, with an impressive team display against AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.


Wycombe make their first trip to Deepdale since January 2012 – a game you can read more about in our match to remember, with a link at the bottom of the page – with just two FA Cup ties played in between and for the third time in six years we will again head to Adams Park in the third round, in early January.

Team News
Manager Alex Neil will be without Patrick Bauer, who will undergo an operation on his ruptured Achilles on Monday and whose season will now be over.

Fellow defender Darnell Fisher will serve the last of his three-match ban, joining the other full backs Andrew Hughes and Josh Earl on the sidelines.

Josh Harrop returned from injury for the midweek squad, but Paul Gallagher was still out, as are Louis Moult and Billy Bodin, who continue to rehab after knee operations.

Gareth Ainsworth was without Curtis Thompson and Dominic Gape for Wednesday’s clash with Stoke City.

Thompson was forced off injured after 17 minutes against Derby the previous weekend, while Gape missed that match after he came off with a knock against Huddersfield Town.

Jason McCarthy will also need to be checked, after he came off injured against the Potters, after what his manager described as a ‘WWF-style’ challenge.

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Match Officials
Taking charge of his Saturday’s game is Isle of Wight match official James Linington.

The referee took charge of just one PNE game last season, the 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers, as well as two PNE games the year before, our August trip to Swansea City and the final game of the season away at Brentford.

He was also the man in charge of the game for our game with Cardiff City in December 2017, when Tom Clarke scored a late winner. James took charge of three PNE games that season in all, the trio all away from home, with the games being the 2-1 win at Hull City back in September, the aforementioned game at the Cardiff City Stadium and the 1-0 win at Sheffield United in our final away game of last season.

Four seasons ago, the referee made his first visit ever to Deepdale for the clash with Wolves back in November and was then the referee in the away game at Derby County back in March.

The season before he was referee of the PNE game at Ashton Gate, when Greg Cunningham scored the winner against his former club and that was his third game in charge of PNE. The other time he refereed North End was another game in the south of England, when the Lilywhites won 1-0 at Gillingham in the League One promotion season, courtesy of Paul Huntington’s goal in his first start of the season.

So far this season he has officiated just six games, issuing eight yellow cards and no reds and he will be assisted by Nik Barnard and Steven Meredith, with Simon Mather acting as the fourth official.

 

Not got much hope for today as we now have no midfield, we do have a pretty solid defence so don’t be expecting a high scoring game. This game has 1-0 written all over it.

 

1 up Barkhuizen

 

1 all

 

1-2

 

2 all own goal

 

What do I know, looking forward to the highlights.

 

In an end-to-end game under the floodlights at Deepdale, both sides drew level after goals from Scott Kashket and Garath McCleary, his first in a Wycombe shirt.

Preston were the first to strike through Tom Barkhuizen, who took advantage of a Josh Knight header that fell short of Ryan Allsop.

In the second half, it was Garath McCleary who equalised for Wycombe, scoring his first Chairboys goal, hitting a powerful shot into the roof of the net after neat build-up between Daryl Horgan and Scott Kashket.


With fifteen minutes to go, it would be Scott Kashket who would put Wycombe into the lead with a poachers finish, however, Preston pocketed a late equaliser through a Jason McCarthy own goal as the game ended level.

Gareth Ainsworth’s team news revealed a few changes for the Chairboys with Bayo Akinfenwa, Scott Kashket and Garath McCleary returning to the starting eleven, after missing out on starts last time out against Stoke.

The opening stages were busy with both sides exchanging shots. Just 60 seconds after kick-off, Scott Sinclair put a chance wide of the post followed by Fred Onyedinma a few minutes later.

After that opening, Preston pounced on a defensive error as the ever-reliable Josh Knight misjudged a header back to Ryan Allsop and Tom Barkhuizen was there to capitalise for hosts, with his sixth goal of the season.

The game remained lively for a while after the goal, with the momentum taken out of Wycombe’s attack.

This meant that Anthony Stewart and the Wanderers defence were called into action a few times to stop Preston efforts reaching Allsop, blocking shots from Sean Maguire and Daniel Johnson.

Josh Knight had an effort cleared off the line after going close to making amends for his cushioned header earlier. It was arguably Wycombe’s best chance of the first half, but it was cleared after a goalmouth scramble.

With the half closing, the Chairboys’ momentum had returned as Scott Kashket engineered a lovely move that found him in-behind Preston’s defence, but unfortunately, he couldn’t poke it past Declan Rudd. Therefore, the home side went into the break a goal up.

Following the restart, Wycombe picked up from where they left off with the momentum in their favour and McCleary made sure the dominance paid off.

The winger scored his first Chairboys goal with a potent strike into the roof of the net after fantastic build-up play between Scott Kashket and former Preston player Daryl Horgan.

Kashket had a chance to score for himself a few minutes after the goal. The attacker was free just outside the six-yard box, but he didn’t make a great connection with the ball on the half-volley and it went wide of the goal.

Anthony Stewart, who had a solid game in defence for Wycombe, was forced off after 65 minutes, after throwing his body at the ball and landing awkwardly. This resulted in a backline that saw Jack Grimmer play left-sided centre-back.

The Chairboys never gave up though and won a free-kick on the edge of Preston’s box. Joe Jacobson hit the set-piece sweetly and it came back off the post, landing at Scott Kashket who had an open goal to slide the ball into, to put Wycombe into the lead.

However, Wycombe’s advantage didn’t last too long as Jason McCarthy inadvertently put the ball into the back of his own net after a fast cross was delivered by Sinclair.

After seven minutes of added time, the game ended equal with both sides sharing the points in an entertaining encounter that had 35 attempts on goal in total.

 

Preston boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"It's been difficult for us in terms of injuries over this period. As you've seen with Ben (Pearson), it was innocuous, running towards the ball but there was no contact made and he just rocks his ankle.

"I thought when Ben went off it certainly took its toll on us. He's a natural building block in there that allows Daniel Johnson to play further up the pitch where I think he's most effective.

"Once he went off, we probably lacked a little bit of courage at times in terms of getting on the ball. Even when we did have that courage in the second half, we didn't move it well enough, so that was certainly disappointing."

Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"I'm gutted but it's a positive to [be able to] say that after not getting three points away at Preston, even though we deserved it.

"Having said that, you can't concede two goals. The first one is really sloppy, the second one is very unlucky.

"I think we could have had a few more ourselves today, we had some real clear-cut chances but unfortunately we didn't stick them in. You've got to do that in the Championship."

 

Wycombe played well. Hope they avoid the drop. Ainsworth got it spot on. Our defence had an away day!