For the fourth and final time this season, we welcome a fellow founder member of the Football League back to Deepdale.
In the case of Derby County, this is their 52nd league visit and they are seeking their 12th win here.
Three of those 11 previous victories have come from the last three meetings between our two clubs and we have not beaten the Rams at home since 2008, a goalless draw in 2009 starting our winless run.
In our 2-1 defeat on New Year’s Day 2011, Callum Davidson’s injury time penalty was our 100th goal in the fixture, but scant consolation for losing all three points.
In our first four meetings here, between 1888 and 1892, we scored 19 goals without conceding any, following scorelines of 5-0 (twice), 6-0 and 3-0. In 1947, we recorded the only 7-4 result in our history when we overcame Derby in an end to end game.
Angus Morrison scored a hat-trick and still ended up on the losing side but he must have made an impression of the North End hierarchy as he moved to Deepdale a year later. Willie McIntosh, Andy McLaren and Bill Shankly all scored twice and Bobbie Beattie was our other scorer that day.
Archie Gemmill was lured away from Deepdale by Derby manager Brian Clough in 1970 and of course he went on to gain many honours with both County and their close rivals Nottingham Forest, as well as appearing for his native Scotland in the 1978 World Cup. His son Scot later spent a short period on loan with North End.
Our first ever loan player joined us from the Baseball Ground in 1972 but only made two appearances for the Liliywhites. Roger Davies regularly commentates on Derby games for the local BBC Radio station and has made more appearances in the press box than he did on the pitch!
Jonathan Clark joined us from Derby in 1981 and later became our youngest ever manager when he took temporary charge aged only 27 after Brian Kidd was sacked. Jon started his career with Manchester United and made over 130 appearances for North End before moving to Derby in 1986.
On This Date
Current Exeter City winger and former North Ender Lee Holmes is 31 today. Lee started his career with Derby, having been born in Burton on Trent in 1987 and he moved to Southampton before being signed by Graham Westley in 2012. He spent two years at Deepdale, scoring six goals in 75 appearances before joining the Grecians in 2014.
Carlo Nash made the first of his 94 consecutive appearances between the sticks for PNE when he made his debut at home to Gillingham in 2005. At the end of that season, he was a member of the side beaten by West Ham in the Championship playoff final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Luckily for North End, Carlo’s positional sense was better than his grasp of geography when he joined Wigan to be closer to London!
Fellow goalkeeper John Barton played his last game for the Lilywhites in 1966, over seven years after his debut. John found himself playing second fiddle to record appearance holder Alan Kelly senior and so he only managed 54 matches in his eight seasons at the club.
Two years ago, 6,000 North Enders filled the Darwen End at Ewood Park to see us overcome Blackburn Rovers thanks to Joe Garner’s penalty and Jordan Hugill’s volleyed strike.
We have played 18 previous league games at home on this date and we have won 14 of those, drawing three times and losing only once, to Bury in 1977. Amongst our results are 4-0 wins over Bradford City and Swansea Town and 4-1 victories over Doncaster Rovers and Sheffield United.
Last Five Games At Deepdale
Preston North End 0 Derby County 1 (Forsyth), 16th August 2016
Preston North End 1 (Johnson) Derby County 2 (Martin, 2), 12th September 2015
Preston North End 1 (Davidson (pen)) Derby County 2 (Porter, 2), 1st January 2011
Preston North End 0 Derby County 0, 8th December 2009
Preston North End 2 (St. Ledger, Parkin) Derby County 0, 26th December 2008