SHEFFIELD UNITED VERSUS PRESTON NORTH END
npower Championship
Venue: Bramall Lane Date: Saturday 28th August 2010 Kick-off: 3pm
Coverage: PNE Player Live Commentary from 2:30pm. Post Match Reaction on PNE Player and pne.com from Monday noon. Extended highlights on PNE Player from Monday afternoon.
Preston North End travel to bottom club Sheffield United in search of their first league away win of the 2010/11 Championship campaign.
The Whites travel to Bramall Lane in what will be Gary Speed's first game in charge of the Blades infront of the home crowd so it is expected to be a cauldron of noise at the Yorkshire based club.
Over 1,200 North End fans have already got their tickets for the game with plenty more expected to snap up the great offer on free coach travel for anyone who buys a ticket from the ticket office before 10am on Saturday morning.
North End go into the tie on the back of two fine wins after picking up their first league points of the season in the 1-0 home victory over Portsmouth last Saturday before tucking away Bradford City at Valley Parade on Tuesday night.
The double victory will give the Whites plenty of confidence before travelling to Sheffield where they have fallen 1-0 on the past three occasions at the Lane.
Sheffield United, on the other hand, have had a tough start to the season following the dismissal of their former manager, Kevin Blackwell, following the 3-0 home defeat to QPR.
And Speed, who replaced Blackwell last week, didn't get off to the best start when he saw his side lose 1-0 away to Middlesbrough last Sunday afternoon.
TEAM NEWS
The Whites will be without the services of Wayne Brown who is still struggling with a calf injury while long term absentee Barry Nicholson is still unavailable.
In his preview to the game assistant manager Kevin Russell said: "We are going to have a full squad to pick from - Wayne is out but apart from that we have a full squad."
Full-back Billy Jones was rested from Tuesday night's victory over Bardford after complaining about a sore knee whilst Sean St. Ledger came off at half-time as a precaution.
But Russell insists both players will be back in the squad after training well in the remiander of the week. Russell continued: "Billy and Sean have trained so I can't see there being any problems with any of the personnel."
GK: Steve Simonsen
RB: Nyron Nosworthy
CB: Chris Morgan
CB: Kyle Bartley
LB: Johnny Ertl
RM: Richard Creswell
CM: Nick Montgomery
CM: Andy Taylor
LM: Leon Britton
CF: Jamie Ward
CF: Ched Evans
One To Watch
Ched Evans
The Welsh international striker signed for the Yorkshire club at the start of last season for a fee of £3m from Manchester City after impressing on loan at Norwich where he scored 10 goals in 20 starts.
Last season Evans bagged five goals for the Blades in 24 starts but his season was eventually tarnished by injury. This year the striker has already got one to his name after finding the net in the opening game of the season against Cardiff City in the Blades 1-1 draw at the Cardiff City Stadium. So the 21-year-old will be looking to forget last year's injury nightmare and focus on scoring as many as possible for Gary Speed's men this campaign.
Preston Connection
Richard Cresswell
The never-say-die striker joined North End in the summer of 2001 after impressing on his loan spell the season prior which ended in play-off heart break against Bolton at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
Cresswell, who played alongside the likes of Jon Macken, David Healy, Ricardo Fuller and David Nugent, went on to make 176 league appearances for the Whites proving well-worth his £500,000 signing on fee from Leicester City.
Cressy, who developed the nickname Super Sub in his early career with the Whites, found the net on 55 occasions in all competitions before leaving to join Leeds United for a fee of over £1m in August 2005.
Last Season's Top Scorer: Richard Cresswell - 14 goals from 30 starts
Most League and Cup Appearances Last Season: Stephen Quinn - 48 games
Last Season's Bad Boy: Darius Henderson - 95 fouls, 6 yellow cards, 1 red card
We've Met Before
The last three meetings at Bramall Lane have all ended with bitter disappointment for the Whites losing out 1-0 in each of the ties. Last season's encounter finished with a controversial goal in the final five minutes to nick the Blades all three points and it proved to be former manager Alan Irvine's last game in charge of the Whites.
Meanwhile the last time the two teams met was in North End's superb 2-1 home victory at Deepdale with goals coming from Matty James and Jon Parkin. The clash against the Yorkshire club was Matty James' first game in a Preston meaning he scored on his North End debut infront of 10,270 who attended Deepdale on the cold Tuesday night.
The Man In The Middle
Saturday's match official, Iain Williamson, started his refereeing career at the age of 15 all the way back in 1991 and is now considered highly on the National Referees list where he has been since the 2002/03 season. The man-in-the-middle last refereed North End on the final day of the 2007/08 season in the 3-0 away defeat to Bristol City at Ashton Gate. Iain's assistants are Mr. S. P. Bennett and Mr. K. W. Haycock.
Colours
Blades - Red/white shirts, black shorts, black socks
North End - yellow shirts, blue shorts, yellow socks.
Related Links
Assistant Manager eyes Blades victory - PNE Player
Lonners' Lane Memories
Jones Seeks Revenge
Take a bet on the Whites
