Our last clash with the Owls at Deepdale - the six-goal thriller in April – was the 100th league game between the two sides and of course the 50th at Deepdale.
In those 100 league games the Owls hold the upper hand in the head-to-head, with 40 wins to 38, however the overall in all competitions is even tighter, with Wednesday 43 to 42 ahead in 110 games.
The league first game between the two sides here in PR1 came way back in September 1892, when North End ran out 4-1 winners, doing the double in that first season they were in the league together, winning 5-0 at Hillsborough.
We have had a few big wins against the Sheffield side, the biggest in back-to-back season, North End coming out 6-0 winners in August 1953 and by the same scoreline in October 1954 – Jimmy Baxter getting a hat-trick in the first Peter Higham also getting a treble in the second, both games seeing Finney at his best.
There have been some long spells without games between the sides, but the longest came in the 1980s and 1990s.
Before Roses hostilities ended for a period, the Lilywhites, under Nobby Stiles’ management, defeated the men from across the Pennines in mid-April 1981, with Steve Elliott and Graham Houston the scorers.
But, it was another two decades before they next met at Deepdale in the league, as David Moyes’ side came out on top in February 2001, doing the double again over their Steel City opponents.
The Lilywhites were on a positive run and had overcome Crystal Palace 2-0 in the midweek and welcomed the Owls to Deepdale hoping to continue their push towards the Play-Offs and they repeated the Tuesday night scorline as Paul McKenna and Jon Macken proved the match-winners in front of 14,379 inside the ground.
Alex Neil’s men will be looking to get another positive result against Wednesday when the game kicks-off this weekend.