It’s a bit of a trek for the match official for Tuesday night, as the Isle of Wight’s James Linington takes charge of the clash at the KCom Stadium.
Whilst this is his first PNE game of this season, last year the referee made his first visit ever to Deepdale for the clash with Wolves back in November and was then the referee in the away game at Derby County back in March.
The season before he was referee of the PNE game at Ashton Gate, when Greg Cunningham scored the winner against his former club and that was his third game in charge of PNE.
The other time he refereed North End was another game in the south of England, when the Lilywhites won 1-0 at Gillingham in the League One promotion season, courtesy of Paul Huntington’s goal in his first start of the season.
So far this season, he has taken charge of 11 games, issuing 39 cautions and four red cards, including refereeing Hull City’s 2-1 defeat at Queens Park Rangers earlier this campaign. He will be assisted by Robert Merchant and Shaun Hudson, with Daniel Middleton the fourth official.