Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur will be the 12th time that our two clubs have clashed in the competition.
The first time, back in 1900, was a first round affair, with North End beating the Southern League champions elect by a single goal in the second half from James Stevenson. That was the season that Spurs moved to White Hart Lane and changed their colours to the same as Preston North End’s – a tribute to the most successful team of that era. They had previously played in chocolate and gold!
At that time, Tottenham had induced a number of league professionals to play for them in the Southern League, including five former North End players.
The following year Spurs beat PNE 4-2 after a 1-1 draw, and another former North Ender, Sandy Brown, scored a hat-trick in the replay. He scored 15 FA Cup goals that season, going on to score in every round, including the final, as Spurs became the first non-league team to win the trophy.
In the early 1920s we met each other twice, both times at the semi-final stage, both games being played at Hillsborough, Sheffield. The 1920/21 FA Cup run resulted in Spurs beating us 2-1 and going on to win the coveted trophy once more. The 1921/22 semi-final saw the result reversed, but we lost the final to Huddersfield Town to a controversial penalty (no VAR back then!).
Tottenham Hotspur's official matchday programme from when the two sides met in March 1937.
Two more games followed in the 1930s, with both clubs winning one game each by a 3-1 scoreline. In the Sir Tom Finney era we were drawn against each other during the 1952/53 competition, Spurs going through 1-0 after a 2-2 draw at Deepdale. In those games in the 1930s and 1950s, both teams changed colours due to the kit clash.
Then the game many of our older readers will remember: the fifth round tie which saw the likes of Jimmy Greaves, Alan Gilzean and Pat Jennings grace the Deepdale turf. It looked like game over after a very early Greaves strike, but North End overcame their top flight opponents with goals from Alex Dawson and Ernie Hannigan.
Action from the last meeting between the two sides in the FA Cup, in 1968.
Greaves was on the scoresheet once again the last time the two teams clashed in this competition, in 1968, with Spurs winning 3-1 at White Hart Lane, but this time around it’ll be Harry Kane looking to find the back of the net, to overcome Greaves as the club’s all-time top goalscorer.
All in all, we are due another win… COYW!