We welcome Nigel Adkins’ Hull City to Deepdale for the 27th time in the league, looking to extend our excellent home record against the Tigers.
To date, we have won 20 of the matches here, with only two draws and four defeats. It is fair to say this has been an irregular fixture over the years since Hull first made the trip across from the east coast in 1912, with several breaks of ten years and more between meetings.
The Tigers didn’t take a single point from the first six matches and we outscored them by 13 goals to three before they finally won a game here, by 2-1 in 1930. Normal service was resumed at the next meeting when we recorded our biggest win to date (5-0) and once again won six in a row, before the first ever draw in 1970.
North End were pegged back three times by our visitors, whose scorers included their deadly 1970s strike pairing of Chris Chilton and Ken Wagstaffe. Hull’s record win came in 1985 thanks to a 4-1 scoreline and their most recent win was seven years (But only two matches) ago.
PNE’s Community and Education Trust’s education officer Graeme Atkinson will no doubt be an interested spectator, having been born in Hull and played 170 times for the Tigers before joining North End in 1994 and being a key figure in our title winning side of 1996.
Another well remembered former player with both clubs is Garry Swann. Swanny preceded Graeme in crossing from east coast to west in 1986 and became a regular goalscorer for North over the next five years. Whether playing in midfield or as full back, Garry had the knack of ghosting in unseen at the far post and was a deadly finisher, recording 46 goals in exactly 250 appearances without once playing as a striker.
Chris and Wayne Brown, Stephen Doyle, Kevin Kilbane and of course John Welsh have also turned out for both clubs during their careers.
On This Date
We have played some notable FA Cup ties on this date in the past, most recently when overcoming Sheffield United 3-1 in a fourth round replay three years ago, thanks largely to two goals from Paul Gallagher.
It seemed our chances of progressing had gone following a 1-1 draw at Deepdale, but we overcame an early setback when conceding in the 38th minute to score three times in a ten minute spell, Paul Huntington our other scorer that night. The reward was of course that thrilling night in front of the cameras when Scott Laird gave us hope of an upset against Manchester United before we finally went down 3-1.
We also lost a dramatic replay at the same stage of the competition in 1969. Having drawn 0-0 with Chelsea at Deepdale, we headed for London for the replay only to be reprieved when 2-0 down by a floodlight failure. When the match was rearranged, we entered the final minute leading 1-0 thanks to Gerry Ingram’s goal, only to concede twice in the dying seconds and be knocked out of the cup. David Webb and Charlie Cooke were the Pensioners who broke North End hearts that night in from of over 36,000 relieved Chelsea fans.
Birthday greetings to Steve Harper (49 on Saturday and another player to feature for both clubs) and former loanee Adam Reach, who is 25. Adam is of course now playing for Championship rivals Sheffield Wednesday after leaving Middlesbrough in 2016 after a highly-successful spell here
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Last Five Games At Deepdale
Preston North End 1 (Gallagher) Hull City 0, 28th December 2015
Preston North End 0 Hull City 2 (Garcia, Barmby), 12th November 2010
Preston North End 3 (Agyemang, Whaley, Neal) Hull City 0, 4th December 2007
Preston North End 2 (Dichio, 2) Hull City 1 (Welsh), 21st October 2006
Preston North End 3 (Johnson, Jones, McKenna) Hull City 0, 1st November 2005