It is the 95th league meeting between the Lilywhites and Nottingham Forest this weekend, the 48th with the east midlands sides as the hosts.
Our first league meeting came way back in September 1892, although we had faced Forest earlier that year in the FA Cup, the league game ended with PNE 2-1 winners, having lost 2-0 in the previous season’s FA Cup.
There was a huge period without many games, from 1961 to 2001, we only visited the City Ground twice, in 1972 and 1973, picking up a point and a win.
However, since 2001 we have been regular rivals, playing 12 games at Forest in that time, picking up four draws and five wins, including both of our last two.
And that’s where we look in more depth, reflecting on the victory in January 2018, when Billy Bodin grabbed his first goal for the club in what proved to be our equal biggest margin of victory (equalling the 4-1 triumph in April 1931) as Alex Neil’s side ran out 3-0 winners.
It was a wet night at the City Ground, but North End climbed to within three points of the Championship Play-Off places with the victory at Forest.
Bodin put the visitors in front with his first goal for the club, slotting past Jordan Smith from Callum Robinson's through ball. Tom Barkhuizen then doubled the lead, heading home Paul Gallagher's corner.
North End then sealed the win when Daniel Johnson fired in from the penalty spot after Geoff Eltringham – who will again take charge of the game on Saturday – adjudged Bodin to have been brought down in the box.
Victory at the City Ground was a first in 15 years for PNE, although Nottingham Forest had the better of the early chances with Apostolos Vellios twice unable to convert. But the Reds were unable to turn their opportunities into a single shot on target and couldn't handle an improved Lilywhites side after the break.
Defeat for the hosts was their third in four games under new boss Aitor Karanka, leaving them 15th in the table, nine points above the relegation zone. And after the game Karanka said: “I feel embarrassed, I can understand the people today who left before the finish of the game.
“It's been a poor game, a poor performance but we have to keep going and feel confident. In the second half we looked like a team without soul, without spirit, and it's unbelievable that ten days ago we played against Wolves [a 2-0 win] in that way.”
Whilst Alex Neil said: “I thought it was a really good performance from Billy [Bodin]. I think for him, when a lad moves club, particularly from one part of the country to another, there's a lot of upheaval.
“He's moving his life, he'd moving home, he's coming away from his girlfriend or his parents and there's a lot of things to get in order, and it's like anything else, if you're not settled off the pitch then on the pitch you don't do as well as you usually would.”