The Lilywhites will look to build on their positive start to the season when they travel to face Derby County at Pride Park on Tuesday night.
They must do it without midfielder Ben Pearson, after his sending-off at Leeds United at the weekend, but with the confidence of how they dealt with the situation, having to play over 35 minutes with ten men.
The Lilywhites will be looking for their first league win at Pride Park, since their first visit 15 years ago, when Dickson Etuhu and David Healy were on the scoresheet, with Warren Barton seeing red for the Rams.
They have won there since, in January 2008, when the side were convincing 4-1 FA Cup winners against their then top flight opponents, but the last two trips have ended all-square.
The Opposition
Tom Huddlestone could be an injury doubt for the home side. The midfielder got through 90 minutes in Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers, but was hampered by a groin problem, manager Gary Rowett revealed after the game.
“Tom Huddlestone felt a little bit of tightness," said Rowett. "I don’t think he quite felt as though have his range of passing, and I think you could see that.
"He looked a little be inhibited and that was just down to picking up a slight groin injury at the end of last week. So we will see how he feels this morning.”
Striker Matej Vydra remains a doubt after missing the Wolves game due to a hamstring injury: “We are hoping Vyds will training this morning, but we won’t know that until we get the medical news," Rowett added.
Meanwhile, Darren Bent, George Thorne, Jason Shackell and Max Lowe are all still unavailable as they recover from injuries.
PNE Team News
Ben Pearson will miss just one game after his two cautions at Elland Road at the weekend and the manager has a number of options at his disposal, including the two substitutes who were used at the weekend – Paul Gallagher and Josh Harrop – who made his competitive debut at Leeds.
John Welsh is not yet ready to return to the squad and joins skipper Tom Clarke and Declan Rudd on the sidelines ahead of the trip to Pride Park.
The Officials
The referee on Tuesday night is, Geoff Eltringham. He took charge of one North End game last season, the home clash with Barnsley, having also done one the previous season, the 1-0 home win over Reading.
The year prior to that he charge of three Lilywhites games, including the 2-0 home win over Peterborough United in March. The previous season he also took charge of North End twice, both of those at Deepdale - the 1-1 draw with Tranmere Rovers back in November 2013 and then the goalless draw with Sheffield United in March.
The County Durham official is an experienced referee who had taken charge of North End a number of times in the past including the very first game after the departure of Graham Westley, when John Dreyer took the team against an in-form Bournemouth side and ran out 2-0 winners.
He also looked after a thriller back in 2010, when North End overcame Crystal Palace 4-3 at Deepdale.
Stat Attack
• We make the first of this season’s four trips to fellow founder members of the Football League tonight, having faced Derby County at three different grounds since our first away league encounter on 29th September 1888. That match ended in a 3-2 win at the County Cricket Ground that was Derby’s first home before they moved to the Baseball Ground in 1895. We were regular visitors there until 1985, but by the time we next faced each other after a 20 year gap, County had moved to their current home.
• We have played 52 previous league games in Derby, resulting in 12 wins, 10 draws and 29 defeats; Derby have an equally poor record at Deepdale. Our biggest victory was by 3-0 in 1935, whilst our heaviest defeat was by 5-1 in 2004. Our consolation goal in that match was scored by Youl Mawene, but it is not counted amongst his eight goals for North End as he was still a Derby County player at the time and he put through his own goal!
• Youl is one of a number of players to appear for both clubs including Jonathon Clark, Paul Coutts, Bret Angell, Brian O’Neil and Danny Dichio, whilst recent loan signing Stephy Mavididi was born in Derby in 1998.
• We have played five previous league games on this date, with three of these being away games. Of these, we won at MK Dons two years ago thanks to a 28th minute goal from Paul Gallagher and drew 1-1 at both Luton (1998) and Doncaster (2009). In 1981, we overcame our Fylde coast neighbours 2-1 in a Football League Trophy group match at Deepdale, Alex Bruce and Graham Houston scoring our goals.
• No postwar players were born on this date, but Stuart Baxter is 64 tomorrow and the goalkeeper in our first season after the resumption of league football in 1946 was born 100 years ago tomorrow!
Match Coverage
This is the third fixture of the new iFollow broadcasts. If you live outside of the UK and Ireland you can sign up to iFollow Premium and watch the game live! Every game that is not shown live on Sky or chosen at the ITN main game on Channel 5, will be available for iFollow Premium subscribers who live outside of the UK and Ireland – you can sign up for a season pass or just one game at a time.
For those in the UK who can’t attend the game will still be able to receive audio commentary of every game as well.
As well as this, our matchday centre on PNE.Com will be in full flow, as well as all the usual coverage on our social media channels of Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. You can interact with us on any of these channels.
It will be Jonathan Breeze and former North End and Derby County midfielder Brian O’Neil who take commentary duties for this game.
Ticket Information
PNE have been given an initial allocation of 1,083 tickets for this game and prices are as follows: Adults £20, seniors (65 and over) £14, U18s £11 and two to 12-year-olds £6.
Tickets are on sale at Deepdale until 2.30pm on Tuesday (the day of the game) and until 5pm online at MyPNE.Com on Monday evening.
The Rams will sell on Tuesday evening, but there is a £3 price increase on each age band ticket. It is cash only from the South East corner ticket office
Derby County will also not offer any refunds or do any upgrades on any PNE supporter' tickets.
Any child aged 13 and under must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or above, and children under the age of two will not be permitted entry to the stadium.
Anyone purchasing any concessions tickets must take valid ID with them to the match.
There are eight pairs of wheelchair and carer tickets available which are located on the disabled platform. These are sold according to the relevant age band above with the carer ticket free of charge.
Ambulant disabled supporter tickets are taken from the main allocation, though Derby County recommend lower rows BB or CC within the upper tier.
Derby County has a dedicated car parking area for away disabled supporters who hold a Blue Badgeand for supporters who have temporary mobility restrictions (e.g. a broken leg).
Spaces are allocated at a cost of £5 on a first come, first served basis and must be booked no later than 24 hours before the match.
Supporters should contact Emma Drury at Derby County on 0871 472 1884 (option 1) or email emma.drury@dcfc.co.uk to book a space.
Coach travel is also available for this fixture and is priced at £15 for all. Coaches will depart from Deepdale and Leyland at 3.30pm.