Old Boys Weekend Round-Up
With Preston's visit to Loftus Road being a one without festive cheer, things weren't much better for a handful of former Preston players during Saturday's fixtures and none more so than at Ewood Park.
Tony Pulis' Stoke City where hit by an invigorated Blackburn Rovers lead out by Sam Allardyce for the first time. Despite controlling much of the opening exchanges, Stoke went behind thanks to a Benni McCarthy penalty in the 9th minute. Jason Roberts made it two on 18 minutes before McCarthy got his second with just under half-an-hour played. Ricardo Fuller and Richard Cresswell both played the full ninety minutes for Stoke with the latter getting himself booked for his efforts whilst Danny Pugh was an unused substitute.
There was even more sorrow in the North West as Portsmouth went two behind the opening three minutes to Bolton at the Reebok Stadium. Former Pompey midfielder Matt Taylor put the home side ahead in the first minute before Ricardo Gardner made it two just two minutes later. Peter Crouch pulled one back after twenty minutes but it proved to be purely consolation. David Nugent came on as a substituted but was largely ineffective.
There was however some joy for ex-Preston players in Saturday's Premiership fixtures. Dickson Etuhu made his debut for Fulham during their 3-0 win over Middlesbrough when he came on in the 79th minute to replace Danny Murphy.
Meanwhile, David Healy was an unused substitute for Sunderland's 4-1 win over Hull City at the KC Stadium.
On Sunday, Craig Beattie was handed a rare run-out for the Baggies during their win over billionaire Manchester City. With the score at 1-0 to West Brom, Beattie very nearly made it but hisa low, curling effort was just a couple of inches wide of the post.
In the Championship, Simon Davey's Barnsley enjoyed a 2-0 win over Plymouth Argyle at Oakwell on Saturday. Rob Kozluk played the full ninety minutes for the Tykes whilst Jon Macken started but was replaced by Odejayi in the 90th minute. Paul Gallagher was in the Pilgrims starting eleven but was unable to pose a threat to a resilient Barnsley side.
Saturday's Championship fixtures provided even more joy for ex-North Enders with Graham Alexander and his Burnley teammates enjoying a 2-1 win over Bristol City. Nicky Maynard put City ahead in the 52nd minute at Ashton Gate from the penalty spot before Martin Paterson pegged City back just five minutes later. Steve Thompson grabbed the winner for Burnley on 77 minutes to keep the Clarets in 4th place.
Tommy Miller was back in the Ipswich side for the Tractor Boys' 2-2 draw with Coventry City on Saturday. Clinton Morrison and Freddie Eastwood were on target for The Sky Blues whilst Kevin Lisbie equalised twice for Ipswich.
Tamas Priskin played the full ninety minutes for Watford but was unable to prevent Derby from taking all three points at Pride Park. A goal from Rob Hulse on 83 minutes was all that separated the two teams.
Matt Hill kept his place for Wolves' trip to the Keepmoat Stadium to take on Doncaster Rovers but was substituted at half-time and replaced by Matt Jarvis. A Danny Collins goal was enough for Wolves who occupy top spot. Brian Stock however did manage to complete the match but was unable to thwart the efforts of the ever impressive Wolves.
North End fans will not need reminding of how striker Patrick Agyemang faired today. The player once dubbed the 'Ghanaian Gazelle' by some sections of the Deepdale crowd played the full ninety minutes for Rangers' 3-2 win over the Lilywhites.
Nottingham Forest recorded a rare away win at St Mary's as Forest saw off Southampton with a 2-0 win. Kelvin Wilson was in from the start for the visitors.
In League One, Michael Ricketts thought he had done enough to seal all the points for Walsall only to see his lob canon back off the cross bar during the Saddlers' 0-0 draw with Cheltenham.
David Lucas was in goal for Leeds United's fifth straight defeat in all competitions. United were outclassed by a rampant MK Don side. Leeds now find themselves languishing in mid-table after the aforementioned poor run of results and manager-less with Gary McAllister leaving the club.
In League Two Accrington Stanley fielded two former Preston North End players for the visit of Rotherham. Neither Colin Murdock nor John Mullin were able to prevent Rotherham from running away with a 3-1 win at the Crown Ground.
Former North End striker Steve Basham netted his first goals since 2006 in the absence of Marcus Stewart during Exeter City's 4-1 win over Rochdale. Basham put the home side ahead on 16 minutes before making it two from the penalty spot in the 31st. Wiseman pulled one back for 'Dale before McAllister added a brace of his own in the last six minutes to complete the scoring.
Paul Simpson's Shrewsbury Town suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Wycombe Wanderers at New Meadow. Despite normally having a handful of former Lilywhites at his disposal, the only player to feature for Shrewsbury who used to don the white of Preston was defender Kelvin Langmead who was in from the start.
To conclude our round-up of League Two, Omar Daley was in from the start for Bradford's 0-0 draw at home to Chester on Saturday.
In the Conference, Chris Day was between the sticks for Stevenage's 1-1 draw with Oxford United whilst Gavin Ward kept a clean sheet during Wrexham's 5-0 thrashing over Eastbourne.