Category: Flashback

A look back to some of North End’s greatest games of the past

Flashback: Wolves 1st March 2005

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Preston North End have had some crucial and interesting meetings with Wolves down the years not surprising for two of the founder members of the football league.

The first big occasion between the two sides came at the Oval in March 1889, the Lilywhites had already completed the inaugural Football League season unbeaten as Champions and they arrived in London for the FA Cup Final hoping to complete the double.

North End had already defeated Birmingham and West Brom in the previous two rounds of the cup and they were hoping to complete the hat-trick over their Midlands rivals.

The Invincibles were born that afternoon at Surrey County Cricket Club when goals from Ross, Dewhurst and Thomson ensured a 3-0 win and also ensured that PNE would go throughout the whole competition without conceding a goal.

One of the more interesting battles between the two sides came in the 1926/27 season when the two sides clashed for a Second Division clash at Molineux. Not for the first or last time at Wolves, North End were down to 10 men in the first half, but nobody was sent off. In bizarre circumstances David Morris was forced out of action as early as the third minute when the laced part of the ball hit him in the eye and caused a blood clot which impaired his vision. PNE still had their sights set on victory though, a goal from Tommy Roberts and an o.g. from Wolves’ Shaw ensured a 2-1 win.

Two decades later and there would definitely be no celebrations for North End at Molineux. 54,425 fans crammed into the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, not that the game had any real significance for Stan Cullis’ side, other than the fact that Wolves had just been to Wembley to win the FA Cup! The Lilywhites on the other hand were battling to avoid the drop and would have to do so without the injured Tom Finney.

The carnival atmosphere obviously allowed the Wolves players to relax a little and it wasn’t long before Mullen fired home their first goal of the afternoon after just 17 minutes.

North End’s Jimmy Gooch was performing all sorts of heroics in goal but the keeper could do little to stop Hancocks doubling the lead midway through the first-half hitting a 25-yard thunderbolt that scorched through the goalkeeper’s hands.

Bobby Langton grabbed a late consolation effort three minutes from the end when he fired home a penalty but it was too little too late for PNE, as was North End’s 2-0 home win over Liverpool one week later as results elsewhere contrived to send the Lilywhites down to the Second Division.

If Wolves victory inflicted pain on North End in sending them down, four years later they would inflict further damage but this time on North End’s quest to win the Football League Championship in the 1952/53 campaign.

It was a three way battle for the Championship, Stan Cullis’ Wolves, Tom Whittaker’s Arsenal and Preston’s Scot Symon all were in the mix as managers of their respective clubs.

And with just five games left of the season in what many considered to be the final eliminator Wolves would travel to Deepdale for an all important clash. Expectation levels were high amongst 35,788 North End fans that went through the turnstiles, the Lilywhites had already defeated Wolves 5-2 in an FA Cup tie earlier in the season and Tom Finney was back in the side after a five game absence.

But the efforts of the Preston Plumber were not to be enough as despite a Jimmy Baxter goal for PNE, the two sides could only manage a 1-1 draw. North End would defeat Arsenal at Deepdale in the penultimate game of the season but once again it was not enough to rescue the title as the Gunners claimed the Championship on goal difference!

North End would enjoy some titanic contests with Wolves throughout the 1950s and five years after Cullis’ side had denied Preston the Championship, they did it again and this time the Midlands club were the beneficiaries.

The Lilywhites and the Wanderers were both gunning for the League title in the 1957/58 season and with just three games to go of the campaign Harry Catterick took his Preston side to Molineux knowing that the winners would probably finish top of the table.

Preston had only been beaten once in the league since the turn of the year on a run of form that included an 8-0 thrashing of Birmingham City. Tom Finney scored twice against the Blues but he would be unavailable for the title decider due to international commitments.

Finney scored 26 goals that season, imagine Arsenal playing a title decider against Manchester United without the services of Thierry Henry!

North End also had Tommy Docherty missing through international duty but they soldiered on regardless.

It was not to be Preston’s day or year for that matter, the home side took advantage of some indecision in the North End defence in the 38th minute when Deeley from the Wanderers picked up on a lucky ricochet to slam the ball into an empty net.

PNE battled back in the second half and Hatsell almost levelled matters when his flick header brought a good save out of Wolves keeper Finlayson. Farrell drove inches wide and Hatsell again came close with a header.

But it was all in vain and Wolves put the Championship of Preston’s reach in the dying minutes when Milne sliced into his own net trying to clear a Broadbent chip.

Wolverhampton’s win would be the last time that the team in gold and black would finish as the top team in England and the 1957/58 season would also represent the last time that the Lilywhites would ever really be considered as challengers for English football’s ultimate title.

Flashback: Burnley 18th February 2005

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Today’s game between Preston North End and Burnley could be regarded as the oldest derby in the Football League. That’s because on the opening day of the first ever season of the oldest league in the world the Lilywhites tackled the Clarets at Deepdale. September 8th 1888 was the date, 5-2 was the scoreline in North End’s favour.

It was a game that almost never happened due to the Burnley side arriving late to the ground, maybe there was traffic jams on the M65, but whatever happened it meant that the game did not kick-off until 3.50pm in the afternoon, by which time the rest of the Football League had already completed one half of football.

Six thousand patient fans awaited Burnley’s arrival and even though the Clarets were perhaps the favourites for the game, having won the previous 15 encounters, it was a game that was keenly anticipated.

Two minutes in and Fred Dewhurst etched his name into the history books of North End by becoming the club’s first ever league goalscorer. One minute later Jack Gordon made it 2-0 for Preston and it looked like a rout was on the cards. PNE put the visitors under intense pressure for the opening 15 minutes of the game and they were fortunate not to go further behind with Sandy Robertson and Dewhurst again going close. The Clarets finally clawed their way back into the game in 21 minutes when Gallacher scored a tap-in after good work from Keenan.

North End had a goal ruled out just before the break but in the second half Preston’s Jimmy Ross aka ‘Little Demon’ showed his class to hit two quickfire goals to make it 4-1. The more the game went on the more the Burnley defence became exposed and Fred Dewhurst completed his brace of goals to make it 5-1. A late goal for Burnley from Poland was little compensation as Major William Suddell’s team won the first of what would be a 27 game unbeaten run and hence the Invincibles were born.

It was a different story entirely 25 years later, PNE had not won any of their first nine fixtures of the 1913-14 campaign and confidence was at a low following promotion from the Second Division the year before.

Things looked to have gone from bad to worse when Hodgson put Burnley ahead with only two minutes on the clock, this despite PNE’s England international Joe McCall’s best efforts to stop the ball from crossing the line.

But McCall didn’t have legendary status for nothing and in front of 28,000 eager fans he turned the game on its head with same great craftsmanship. On 35 minutes he picked up the ball in the centre of the park and set off on a surging run right at the heart of the Burnley defence before delivering a ball towards Toward, the Preston striker turned and shot in one movement to level matters.

Still the game looked to be heading for a draw and with it PNE’s hopes of a first win of the season looked to have been dashed. But McCall was having none of it, with just seven minutes left the centre-half played a wonderful ball into the box and Barlow slotted home to make the final score 2-1 to Preston North End.

Sadly it would prove to be a false dawn for PNE and they would return to the Second Division after finishing second bottom of the table.

Twenty years later in the 1933/34 season both teams were languishing in the Second Division after some lean years in North Lancashire. But an early season double over the Clarets would lead to North End being promoted. In fact PNE would play Burnley twice and Blackpool once in the opening four fixtures of the season.

The first game against Burnley was at Deepdale, goals from future PNE boss Jimmy Milne, David Galloway and George Stephenson helped the Lilywhites to a 3-2 win. Then six days later Preston travelled to Turf Moor and inflicted a painful 4-1 defeat on their hosts, Stephenson got a brace this time with Frank Wilson and John Torbet weighing in with the other two.

The Clarets would not join Preston back in the top flight until after the Second World War but when they did return in the 1947/48 season they retuned in style. Cliff Britton’s Burnley side had beaten their local rivals 1-0 in a Christmas Day fixture with a last minute goal and they arrived at Deepdale aiming to clinch a record for undefeated away games one day later on Boxing Day. Fortunately Preston were having nothing of it, in front of 39,400 fans the Lilywhites won 3-2 thanks to a brace of goals from Andy McLaren and Harry Jackson grabbing the crucial third goal.

Fast forward 25 years and the sharp suits and brillcream had been swapped for big sideburns and flares as both teams were once again playing their football in the Second Division.

The 1972/73 campaign will be one that is remembered by Clarets fans for their promotion to the First Division but they arrived at Deepdale for the final game of the season still needing one more point to claim the Second Division title. But with QPR breathing down their necks they faced a PNE side who needed one point to ensure safety.

Burnley arrived at Deepdale to find that the pitch had been narrowed and watered heavily. And temporary PNE boss Frank Lord was taking no chances as he set an ultra-defensive formation packing defenders around goalkeeper Alan Kelly.

Surprisingly it was Preston who managed to score first when Alex Bruce slotted home on the stroke of half-time. Most of the 21,550 fans packed inside Deepdale erupted praying that this would be the goal that kept them in the division, they had suffered relegation at the hands of Blackpool three year earlier and to suffer the same fate again would have been too much. There would have been plenty of nails been bitten when Colin Waldron equalised just after the break but Lord’s team held on and kept their Second Division status whilst Burnley would march towards the top flight as Champions.

Flashback – Ipswich Town 10th February 2005

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There isn’t too much to look back on in terms of games between Preston North End and Ipswich Town. Despite both clubs being around since the 1870s they have only come up against each other 15 times, and it has to be said that the Tractor Boys have had the upper hand, especially in recent years.

But it wasn’t always like that, in fact if North End’s first three fixtures against Ipswich were anything to go by, you would have thought that the Suffolk club were PNE’s lucky omens.

The two clubs first clashed in an FA Cup Fifth Round tie in the 1953/54 season. Scott Symon’s side had safely negotiated their way through the previous two rounds of the Cup, with 2-0 victories at Derby County and Lincoln City and when Third Division Ipswich Town arrived at Deepdale for the Fifth Round many expected to see a rout.

But Scott Phillips’ side were not arriving in the North West with a bad reputation, they were chasing promotion and had already defeated the likes of Reading and Birmingham in previous rounds.

34,630 fans crammed into North End’s home and the Preston folk would not be disappointed as they were treat to a stunning display of attacking football from the Lilywhites, a pair of braces from Charlie Wayman and Jimmy Baxter plus goals from Angus Morrison and Tom Finney helped PNE to a fine 6-1 win, a victory that catapulted North End into that epic quarter-final tie with Leicester City.

It would be over 10 years before the two sides would clash again, but the results were not much different. North End had slipped down a division for the first league encounter between the two clubs.

Jimmy Milne’s side probably still had the FA Cup Final defeat to West Ham fresh in their memory when they embarked upon the 1964/65 campaign and they got off to a slow start with a 0-0 draw at home to Rotherham United a 3-3 thriller at Cardiff City.

So there was a definite case of venturing into the unknown when Preston made their first ever trip to Portman Road to take on an Ipswich side managed by former Newcastle legend Jackie Milburn.

Milburn was following in the footsteps of Alf Ramsey who had departed for England the previous year and he wasn’t having too impressive a start to the season. The week before North End’s arrival he had watched his side defeated 3-1 at home to Coventry and the last thing he wanted was the visit of a North End side tipped by many to one of the favourites to return to the top flight.

Those fears were realised when North End put on one of their most impressive performances of what turned out to be another disappointing year. A Brian Godfrey hat-trick and a brace of goals from David Wilson helped Milne’s men to a fine 5-1 win at Ipswich.

Milburn had departed Portman Road by the time the two teams met just before Christmas later in the season, new boss Bill McGarry’s main task would have been keeping the score respectable after shipping 11 goals in the first two encounters with North End, but that was not to be!

Brian Godfrey brought his tally against Ipswich to five with a brace and Alex Dawson also chipped in with a couple goals in a 4-1 win. It was a partnership that would produce 53 goals between them during the season, unfortunately it was leaking goals at the back that led to PNE’s demise that year, only the bottom club Swansea conceded more goals than them that year, as North End had to be content with mid-table mediocrity.

One season on and North End still held the upper hand, although the first signs of their grip slipping were starting to show. A 2-0 win in late November of 1966 is actually the last time that PNE beat Ipswich and we have goals from Nobby Lawton and Alan Spavin to thank for that. Later in the year Ipswich scored their first ever success over the Lilywhites when they held North End to a 0-0 draw.

The following season and Bill McGarry’s team were easily the superior, a 1-1 draw at Deepdale would be seen as a decent result for Bobby Seith’s team in the greater scheme of things because by the time North End travelled to Portman Road to be thrashed 4-0 in March of 1968, Ipswich were heading for the Second Division Championship and the Lilywhites were heading for the bottom three.

And that was that as far as league meetings between the two teams go until the Tractor Boys were relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2001/02 season. Those more recent seasons have seen Ipswich carry on from where they left off in 1968 with impressive wins at Portman Road and hard fought draws at Deepdale.

If the Lilywhites historians can take anything from studying previous battles between the two clubs, the fact remains that in the long and illustrious histories of both clubs Ipswich have never won a league game at Deepdale.