Preston North End
nPower League 1
Saturday 9th March 2013
Deepdale, Sir Tom Finney Way, Preston, PR1 6RU
Kick Off: 3pm
Weather Forecast: Light rain, 4°c
Referee: A Woolmer (Northants)
Last time we met:
Preston enjoyed a 4-1 victory over Boro in the previous meeting between the two sides back in November. The Lillywhites took an early lead through Stuart Beavon only for Stevenage to hit back through a Greg Tansey equaliser into the top corner. The visitors went back in front when Jack King’s deflected shot beat Steve Arnold. Preston completed the win thanks to goals from outside the box from Jeffrey Monakana and Nicky Wroe.
Boro: Arnold; Gray, Roberts, N’Gala, Charles; Grant, Dunne, Tansey (Agyemang); Morais (Freeman), Akins, Haber (Shroot)
Subs not used: Day, Hills, Risser, Rogers
Team News:
Preston miss Keith Keane through suspension and both David Buchanan and Bailey Wright are injury doubts after missing training earlier this week. John Mousinho could feature after coming through a midweek friendly unscathed.
Stevenage will be without the suspended James Dunne so Anthony Grant is likely to earn a recall in midfield. Otherwise Gary Smith is likely to stick with the rest of his starting XI from Tuesday night which saw off Brentford.
The Preston North End Scout Report
Recent Form:
Preston come into this place in 17th in League One after picking up nine wins, 13 draws and 12 defeats from their 34 games to date.
The team are unbeaten in three having won 2-0 against Bournemouth and secured consecutive 1-1 draws at Swindon and MK Dons. Prior to this they’d lost four of their previous five games – 1-3 v Walsall, 1-2 v Shrewsbury, 0-1 v Colchester and 1-3 v Yeovil - with their only points coming with a 2-2 home draw with Coventry.
The Lilywhites’ home form is roughly on par with Boro’s this season, having won four, drawn seven and lost six of their 17 games in front of their own fans during which time they’ve scored 22 and conceded 21.
Possible Preston North End line-up for Saturday (4-4-2 formation):
Declan Rudd; David Buchanan, Paul Huntingdon, Bailey Wright, Paul Connolly; Will Hayhurst, John Welsh, Nicky Wroe, Lee Holmes; Jack King, Stuart Beavon
Subs from: Jeffrey Monakana, Joe Garner, Chris Robertson, Andy Procter, Chris Beardsley, John Mousinho, Thorsten Stuckmann
Key Man:
Stuart Beavon currently sits joint top of the Preston goal charts with nine for the season, including the first in Preston’s victory at The Lamex earlier this season. The former Weymouth and Wycombe man notched 21 times for the Chairboys last season although that wasn’t enough to save the Buckinghamshire club from relegation to League 2. He joined Preston in the summer, scoring in his first match against Swindon and his most recent strike was in the 2-0 victory against Bournemouth, the first game following the departure of former Boro manager Graham Westley.
Stat Attack:
• The referee for this game will be Andy Woolmer from Northamptonshire who last took charge of a Boro game in the 2-1 win over Portsmouth back in October.
• Sam Hoskins is set to make his 10th appearance for Boro at Preston, Miguel Comminges his 15th and Greg Tansey his 35th.
• A goal for Mark Roberts will be the skipper’s 25th for the club since joining in 2008 whilst a goal for Lucas Akins will be his 10th this season, making him only the second man to reach double figures for Boro in a Football League season.