STUART Pearce's last visit to Deepdale was not a happy one.
Pearce was playing for City when they lost to Jon Macken's 45-yard wonder goal in a First Division clash at Preston in October 2001.
So the Blues manager has every reason to be wary ahead of his side's FA Cup fifth-round trip to Preston a week on Sunday.
Plenty has changed at both clubs since the Blues' 2-1 defeat in 2001 - but one thing that hasn't is North End's ability to score goals.
Whereas Macken - who went on to play for City - and David Healy were the goal grabbers for David Moyes' Preston just over five years ago, now it's the turn of David Nugent to lead the line for Paul Simpson's North End side.
Former Bury striker Nugent has bagged 10 goals this season, while his fellow former Shaker Simon Whaley has chipped in with five from midfield.
Throw in Partick Agyemang, Danny Dichio and Brett Ormerod, and it's clear that Pearce and Co face a battle to avoid a repeat of that 2001 defeat when they meet for the 1.10pm kick-off.
"They have extremely good home form, having won 10, drawn four and only lost one this season, so that itself speaks volumes," Pearce said. "They're a good side. Nugent is one of their bigger names and they've turned down big money for him recently.
"It'll be a derby of sorts and their fans will be up for the game. It's going to be a tough game with a fantastic atmosphere there.
"In the fifth round of the Cup you're never going to get an easy game, no matter who you've pulled out of the hat.
"The one thing that we'll keep telling ourselves is that if we get through this round, there are only five Premiership teams left in the Cup in the quarter-finals. There are opportunities there."
What is your prediction? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
if they do manage to score against us sp don't buy the player like keegan did.
Its been a very long time since I associated Jon Macken with Goals....
What's a goal?
They were obviously on form against Colchester last night. This will be a tough game as its City, we don't do anything easily. Last paragraph reminds me of last season when there were oppertunities. Look how the season panned out then, if the same happens this season we will go down, but lets be more optimistic there is always a chance.
A complete mis-hit-in-off-his-backside from 4.5 yards would have qualified as a wonder goal for Macken during his spell with us!
Well until the transfer window closed I thought we might have had a chance, but now that it has, and typically City have achieved nothing to alleviate our Striker problem, I think a comfortable Preston victory is on the cards.