It’s tantalisingly close now. Tuesday’s captivating and hard-fought
victory over local rivals and promotion rivals Swindon Town has left us within
a game or so of securing our passage back to the second tier of English
football.
Despite a run of tough games still to come, it does seem a case of ‘when’,
and not ‘if’ now for even those most pessimistic of City fans.
But will promotion be enough? Without wanting to be greedy, we’ve been
top of the table for most of the season, by a considerable margin for much of
it, and we haven’t won a league title in sixty years. Of all the games left,
Saturday’s at Deepdale against Preston North End is clearly the most important for
that particular issue and will ensure that Cotterill will leave his players in
no doubt they cannot ease off the gas right now.
Tuesday’s performance proved that is unlikely anyhow, although that was
tinged with revenge for an animosity filled defeat in November. Our other
defeat that month, the following week, was more routine and one that although
we had three or four very good chances in the first half, few could deny
Preston had done enough to earn a result.
Stu Radnedge caught up with Lancashire Evening News reporter Dave
Seddon, (@Sedds_LEP) who has given us a great review of the Lilywhites season
since that day.
“It is almost five
months since Preston went to Ashton Gate and sent a few shock waves rippling
through League One with victory over Bristol City. Since that
November afternoon, it is fair to say that North End have packed much into
their agenda!
The
victory cigars from the 1-0 scoreline had only just been smoked when the
Lilywhites were dealt a double blow. You might remember that Joe Garner came
off at half-time in the game, appearing for the second half in the dug out in
his tracksuit. It transpired that the tendon at the top of his shin had
detached itself from the bone after he had landed awkwardly from a first-half
collision. That was the first injury of its type seen in a footballer by the
specialist who examined Garner and subsequently operated on him.
We were
just digesting the news of the striker's impending surgery and lengthy absence,
when Callum Robinson - scorer of the winner against the Robins - got recalled
from his loan by Aston Villa. Annoyingly,
Robinson did not get a single minute of first-team football at Villa after
being summoned back.
The bad
news concerning Garner and Robinson came literally hours apart and an air of
gloom descended on Deepdale, smothering the feelgood factor built-up after
beating City. North End vowed to cover their losses before the loan deadline a
couple of days later but only ended-up with Bradley Fewster from Middlesbrough.
The young striker lasted two weeks before getting homesick and returning to
Boro without kicking a ball in the first-team.
Without Garner
and Robinson, Preston coped remarkably well, following-up their Ashton Gate
victory with a nine-game unbeaten run. But January was a sticky month to say
the least, the only joy being a 2-0 win over Norwich in the third round of the
FA Cup. They tumbled out of the JPT to Walsall over two legs, were beaten by
Sheffield United and Crawley, while points were thrown away in Deepdale draws
with lowly Leyton Orient and Yeovil.
The green
shoots of recovery started to poke through with the £50,000 bargain-bucket
signing of Daniel Johnson from Aston Villa in late January. Robinson rejoined
on loan from Villa on transfer deadline day and Garner made the bench for the
FA Cup replay at Sheffield United on February 3.
You could
say that those three events were season-changing moments.
North End
went to Bramall Lane and beat the Blades 3-1 to set up a fifth-round tie with
Manchester United at Deepdale. Only once since then have they been beaten,
United beating them rather controversially in front of a capacity crowd. Scott
Laird's 47th minute goal had PNE fans dreaming of a huge cup shock, only for
Louis van Gaal's side to battle back to win 3-1. Two of United's three goals
should not have stood but referee Phil Dowd had his Premier League-tinted
glasses on that night.
North
End's unbeaten run stands at 13 league games, that sequence including a 2-0
away win at MK Dons and back-to-back Easter wins over Rochdale (1-0) and
Bradford (3-0). For those City fans intending to travel to Valley Parade on
Tuesday night, don't expect to see a playing surface conducive to passing
football.
As for
Saturday's top-of-the-table clash at Deepdale, it should be a cracker. Johnson
is the man in form with seven goals in 14 games from midfield, while Jermaine
Beckford has helped himself to five goals since returning from five weeks out
with a severe inner ear infection.
Preston
need the points to keep a decent-size gap between themselves and MK Dons. Automatic
promotion is a must, one glance at our play-off record telling you why.
Swindon
still have to come here on April 25, with games against Gillingham (h), Port
Vale (a) and Notts County (a) before then. After playing that Swindon lot, it
is off to Colchester on the final day.
Fingers
crossed, we will be meeting you again in the Championship next season.”
Fingers crossed indeed, I think the vast majority of City fans would
rather North End join us in the automatic spots than Swindon or Franchise FC.
One last push for the title, COYR!
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