This Wednesday we have a referee taking charge of just his second game at Deepdale and also his second PNE match overall.
The match official for the clash with Nathan Jones’ Potters is John Brooks, now in his second season on the Select Group Two list of referees.
The Leicestershire ref was in charge of North End’s 3-2 home win over Millwall in December last year, whilst he was also the referee of one Potters game, their 3-0 home defeat to Wigan Athletic, early on in the season, when Ashley Williams saw red.
Overall in his first season on the Championship list, he took charge of 40 games, issuing 156 cautions and five red cards, including the aforementioned one of City’s on loan defender.
This season he has only officiated over two games thus far, Swansea’s opening day 2-1 win over Hull City and then Grimsby Town’s 1-0 shock EFL Cup win over Doncaster Rovers.
He will be assisted by Akil Howson and Richard Wild, whilst the fourth official will be Peter Wright.