Players who have played for Wrexham and Preston

856) Steve Basham

825) Gary Bennett

600) Dave Carrick

568) Ray Charnley

655) Joe Hinnigan

275) Jack Holland

660) Peter Houghton

933) Jason Jarrett

452) Willie Jessop

515) Derek Mayers

715) Brian Mooney

387) Jack Mustard

782) Paul Raynor

675) Ian Stevens

801) John Vaughan

910) Gavin Ward

340) Frank Williams

255) Roland Woodhouse

Player Profile – Peter Houghton

Peter Houghton was born in Liverpool on 30 November 1954. He started his career with Prescott Town and won the Mid Cheshire League in 1976/77. After a spell with South Liverpool he was signed by manager Ian McNeil at Wigan in February 1978. Wigan were still a non-league club and made his Latics Northern Premier League debut against Worksop Town at Springfield Park on 27th February 1978 in a game Latics won 3-0

Houghton was the scorer of Latics’ last Non League goal on the last day of the 1977/78 season against Matlock Town a game that resulted in a 1-0 victory. He was also one of the goal scorers when Latics won their last ever piece of non league silverware against Chorley in the Lancashire Junior Cup.

He made his Wigan League debut on 19th August 1978 in Latics’ first ever League game at Edgar Street that resulted in a 0-0 draw against Hereford, and Houghton ‘scored’ on the day only for the ‘goal’ to be disallowed.

Houghton ended the season with 13 league goals to his name. He managed to score double figures in four of his five full seasons with Wigan, including 1981/82 when the club won promotion from Division Four.

After 62 goals from 185 league games Houghton was signed by Gordon Lee at Preston in October 1983. Houghton made his Lilywhite debut in a 2-0 defeat at Gillingham on 8 October 1983. His first goal for PNE came in a 2-1 defeat at Burnley on Bonfire Night. Houghton scored 9 goals from 33 appearances in 1983/84 including a brace in the 4-0 home win over Port Vale on Boxing Day.

The 1984/85 season saw Houghton top scorer for Preston with 9 goals in all competitions including a brace in a 3-3 draw against First Division Norwich in the League Cup. In November 1984 Houghton joined Wrexham on loan and scored 2 goals from 5 games.

Houghton returned to Preston and back into the first team in January 1985 but could not help Preston relegation to the fourth tier for the first time in 1985/86. His last goal for PNE came in match against former club Wigan on 6 May but the Whites lost 5-2 at Deepdale. His last game came in the final match of the season five days later in a 1-0 defeat at York; he had netted 16 goals from 56 appearances.

In August 1985 Houghton joined Chester and his first season at Chester saw him score 10 times in 37 league appearances to help the Blues to promotion as runners–up to Swindon for the Division Four title. He remained a regular the following season but was injured for much of 1987/88. This was to be his final season with the club, with his last appearance coming in a 0–0 draw at Chesterfield on 30 April 1988. Houghton had scored 13 goals from 85 matches.

After leaving Chester, Houghton dropped into non–league football with Runcorn in the Conference and also later played for Warrington Town.