Burnley v Preston North End

The Clarets host local rivals Preston North End at home on Friday night for the first Lancashire derby of the season. The Sky cameras roll into town as we look to close the gap on the top two.

It’s a derby that both sets of fans have come accustomed to in recent years, with this being the 11th season consecutively that the Clarets and the Lilywhites have competed in the same division. Four of those seasons were in the division below, but in the 99/00 season, both clubs were promoted with Preston finishing as Champions, and the Clarets promoted as runners-up.

There are games to forget, particularly the home fixture in that 99/00 season when a healthy crowd of 22,310 packed into Turf Moor. We were awesome at home up to that point, we had lost just one game at home all season, a freak result against Scunthorpe who went on to be relegated. We feared no one at home, but Preston came and well and truly battered us.

The 4-1 defeat at Deepdale under Stan, when we were in a period of transition, the 5-3 defeat when we displayed some fantastic forward play with Chaplow, Blake and Little pulling the strings, but calamitous defending in the shape of West, May, Gnohere and Camara, and an absolute horror show from our current goal-keeper who just could not play under Stan.

There have been incredible highs too including the 3-2 win at Deepdale during the disastrous Waddle season, how we enjoyed taunting Kurt Nogan that day, and rightly so! Nogan still talks fondly of his goals against Burnley for North End, which can be seen in a recent interview with the player in the Preston Citizen, see here.

There was the fantastic 3-2 win there in the 2001/02 season as the Clarets headed the table, and not forgetting the 3-0 demolition of Preston on the Turf in 00/01 as we bounced back from our trouncing at Ewood, and Robbie Blake’s memorable free kick in the 04/05 season. Fittingly, Robbie’s brace that day would be his last goals for the Clarets before his move to Birmingham. What a way to sign off.

Today though it’s Gifton spearheading the Burnley attack with Andy Gray, although Gifton is struggling to overcome the groin problem after being replaced at Plymouth. What a miss he will be considering his form since that hat-trick against Barnsley. Wayne Thomas returns from his 4-game ban and may well start after the move for former North Ender Chris Lucketti fell through after the 35-year-old hoped for a permanent switch with Burnley only prepared to offer a loan deal. Thomas and Foster will fight it out for the right to partner Michael Duff at the heart of the Clarets defence.

Preston meanwhile will be without star striker David Nugent through suspension, and fellow striker Patrick Agyemang and Danny Dichio may also miss out with hip and back injuries respectively. Brett Ormerod could return following his recovery from a broken leg.

Preston 2nd, Burnley 4th, it’s got the making of a cracker, and you would have to fancy the Clarets due to North End’s strike problems. A win would keep up within touching distance of the top two, and would give us local bragging rights, until St. Patrick’s Day at least.

We need a performance, bring ‘em on!

Up the Clarets!