Preston North End v Reading

Finally, a game to write about for my adventure! The last game I wrote about on here was in mid-September, but as my aim is to go to a game at every level of the pyramid (down to NWCFL), then the FA Cup game at Clitheroe didn't really count, did it?! Last week I went to watch Farsley Celtic beat Hyde, so I wasn't going to write about that. But here is something I can write about now, my first visit to Deepdale, Preston.

I attended this game with Sara, the biggest (in terms of the competition) game she'd ever been to. Our travels started in Wigan with the customary Wetherspoons breakfast. The egg on this one was almost raw, not nice. Then also got some 'garlic potatoes' from the continental market in Preston city centre, they were tinned potatoes with some herbs. A waste of £3.50 indeed! I was impressed that PNE's match day catering included the Butter Pie option, but I didn't buy any food in the ground.

I always thought that Deepdale was impressive, how it had a picture of the player the stand was named after made out of seats. That being Alan Kelly, Tom Finney and Bill Shankly. Unfortunately, we didn't sit on anyone's face (ahem) and opted for the Invincibles stand. Mainly cos it was the newest stand. We were sat on the sixth row from the front, which meant when the fine rain came down in the First Half, we got soaked. It was cold, as I left the house in Wigan I declared it was 'crackin' t'flags', by the time we went to leave Wigan it was cloudly, by the time we got to Deepdale, it was drizzly. Needless to say, we weren't in the suitable attire. There was only about two people in the entire block sat in front of us, with everyone else behind. The ground was about half full with just over twelve thousand there. A particularly odd thing was that one of the mascots for the game was aged 50.

The game itself wasn't too great in the first half. Reading probably had more chances, Lonergan had to come up with a couple of good saves and the woodwork kept them out. They took the lead through a penalty, on the opposite side to me. Reading could have probably had it sewn up at half time. Preston put the Royals under a lot of pressure in the second half, both their goals came from mistakes from Reading's American 'keeper. All three goals of the game were at the opposite side of the pitch for me. Once again the woodwork kept Reading out as they fought for the equaliser. It wasn't until PNE scored that the home fans made themselves heard, though they didn't seem to have the biggest range of songs.

After the referee blew for full time, Reading's Noel Hunt, for some reason, was asked to move away from the Reading fans by a steward. He was told in no uncertain terms to go, but he wasn't having it. The 5'8" midfielder then tried to push the steward out of the way. The steward was about the size of a house, so it was funny to see. The steward then got barracked by the Reading fans after, funny stuff!

That's the Championship off the list then, I enjoyed my afternoon out at Deepdale, except the weather. And here is a few pictures: