Preston North End Vs Barnsley
Coca-Cola Championship Saturday 22nd November 2008
Saturday sees the visit of Simon Davey's Barnsley, a man who will know all about Preston's triumph in the Lancashire derby on Sunday having being part of a winning Preston team in such a derby during years gone by. As will the likes of Jon Macken, Kelham O'Hanlon and Ryan Kidd, however, come Saturday, there will be no room for sentiment as the former Preston quartet will be striving to bring North End crashing back down to earth with a win at Deepdale.
North End, who will of course be buoyed by the result at the weekend, take on a Barnsley side who are currently enjoying a rich vein of form. The Tykes have lost just once in their last six matches after beating the likes of Watford, Doncaster and Charlton in recent weeks. With that in mind, it will not be an easy task for Alan Irvine's men who are looking to make it three games unbeaten.
Previous Meetings
The corresponding fixture last season resulted in an unlikely win for the Tykes with former North End favourite Jon Macken scoring the decisive goal. Macken was on hand to net a 55th minute penalty to give the visitors a 2-1 win back in April. Couple this with the 1-0 defeat at Oakwell a few months previous, and it meant that the Tykes recorded the double over the Lilywhites for the first time since the 1930s.
Team News
With no fresh injury concerns for Preston, it is widely expected to be an unchanged team from the one that beat the Seasiders, meaning that Youl Mawene and Barry Nicholson will have to make do with another place on the bench.
Barnsley will have to do so without star man Iain Hulme as the Canadian international suffered a fractured skull during the defeat to Sheffield United, ruling him out for the foreseeable future. Centre half Darren Moore will also be out having picked up a groin injury against Watford, whilst on-loan Preston winger Simon Whaley is not eligible to play.