Preston 1 City 1
This was one of those games that you're not quite sure what you would take from it beforehand. Preston were bottom of the league (good), but it was also their first league game under a new manager (bad). We've been improving recently (good), but our recent away record over the last few months has been poor (bad). Maybe I'd settle for a point?
Preston is usually quite an enjoyable trip. It's not too difficult to get to … especially if like me, you only live 5 miles down the road! There are a couple of really good old fashioned pubs in the town centre, which are well worth a visit if you like good beer in civilised surroundings without TV screens interrupting your every thought. And Deepdale is now a decent stadium, albeit a bit of a hike from the railway station.
My first visit to Deepdale was in Nov 1979, when a last minute Gary Lineker goal saved us from defeat. Interesting enough, this preserved a fine record of scoring in every league match that season. We poured out of the ground that day singing "we've scored in every game". It was a valuable point, on the way to the 2nd Division Championship.
Deepdale back then resembled a graffiti-ridden crumbling wreck. The away terrace was wooden, and the rest of the ground looked like it would fall down in a high wind. And to be perfectly honest, some of the locals weren't the sort you wanted to bump into on a dark November night.
Fast-forward 30 years, and it's now a fine 23,000 all-seater stadium. It's an excellent example of a properly re-developed ground. Well it will be when they just finish off the top tier of executive boxes in the new stand. The away end is half of the Bill Shankly Kop (Fulwood End), and there's normally plenty of room to sit where you want to. The stewards are a mixed bunch. Sometimes they leave you alone to stand at the back if you want to; sometimes they don't. And most of the locals are pretty friendly these days as well…..
There was a good turn-out from the City fans (approx 2,000) and plenty of "Sol, Sol Bamba" chants for our latest score-with-his-first-touch-of-the-ball cult hero. The match tickets had a couple of nice details printed on them. The first good bit was "£10" and the second good bit was "unreserved seating". Ok, it's a bit of a pain when you're late arriving and are trying to find a seat where there's a big turn-out. But it's just so good to be able to sit where you want. You could even have sat near to someone who looked like Steve Walsh, if you liked.
The City team was the same that had started against Man City, apart from Yakubu coming in for Vassell. The game itself had a fairly familiar look to it. The first half was a bit drab … wonderfully matching the dark wet weather. City were generally in control, but without there being many clear cut chances. The only really exciting incident was Paul Gallagher hitting the crossbar with a freekick just before half time.
At half time, the strains of "He's here, he's there, he's everywhere, Stevey Walsh, Stevey Walsh" (or words, to that effect), suggested that there was indeed a reason why that chappie looked like Steve Walsh. If you think about it, fair play to him. He'd rather sit with us, than in the rarefied luxury of the VIP/Corporate/WAG areas. Ok, I'm not sure Deepdale has got any posh bits, but I refuse to allow that minor detail to spoil my argument. He was one of the City greats, and I'll tell you something else. We would never have been relegated to the 3rd Division, if the likes of him had still been playing for us a few years ago. Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, the second half was a much more watchable affair. We were still generally controlling most of the game, and after Gallagher hit the woodwork again … we took the lead on the hour mark. A good move worked the ball through to Yakubu on the left, and he cleverly slotted the ball inside the near post. Cue a mini "Poznan" at the back of the stand, and chants of "Feed the Yak, Feed the Yak. Feed the Yak, and he will score" filled the air.
City continued to press forward but Preston sporadically had some dangerous chances. Whilst we looked comfortable on the ball, we didn't quite have the killer instinct to finish the game off. It still looked for the most part that the one goal would be enough, but I couldn't get the old cliché about "one goal is never enough" out of my mind. Making a trio of substitutions gave the impression of being more concerned with trying to keep what we had, rather than killing the game off.
Sure enough, with the game going into added time … Preston got the ball forward quickly and Iain Hume controlled the ball, and took his chance well. There was a frantic last couple of minutes, as first Preston surged forwards; and then City surged back and could (should) have won it at the death. Andy King was put through, but his effort was somehow blocked by the keeper and spun out for a corner.
Before the match I was trying to tell myself I would have been content with a point. But this was 2 points dropped, and the game should have been out of reach long before they struck the equaliser. As we seem to be better going forwards than defending, I just wish we could "go for the jugular" and kill these sorts of games off.
Having said all that … it was still a decent performance. We are heading in the right direction, and things are definitely looking up. You never know, we could soon be playing the likes of Man City again!
City: Weale, Gallagher, King (c), Dyer, Berner, Naughton, Wellens, Abe, Yakubu, Hobbs, Bamba. Subs: Teixeira, Oakley (on for Dyer '77), Howard (on for Yakubu '86), Logan, Waghorn, Moussa (on for Gallagher '86), Mee
Preston: Lonergan, Morgan, St Ledger (c), Linganzi, Hayes, Hume, Jones, Russell, Cort, McLaughlin, Carter. Subs: Nicholson (on for Linganzi '47), Treacy, Mayor, Barton, Parry (on for McLaughlin '48), Ellington (on for Carter '62), Arestidou
Referee: D H Coote Attendance: 14,205
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation