PREVIEW: PRESTON NORTH END (A)

2 July 2020

A look ahead to Saturday’s visit of the Lilywhites

- A preview to Huddersfield Town vs Preston North End
- Ones to watch in Alex Neil’s side
- Watch the game on iFollow HTAFC

Huddersfield Town return to the John Smith’s Stadium to take on Preston North End in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday 4 July 2020; 3pm kick-off.

The Terriers go into the game in good spirits following a first win since the resumption of the Sky Bet Championship season, at Birmingham City on Wednesday evening.

Goals from Karlan Grant, Fraizer Campbell and Elias Kachunga were enough to lift Town up to 19th in the table ahead of Saturday’s visit of the promotion-chasing Lilywhites.

Saturday’s game will be Town’s first at the John Smith’s Stadium since the opening weekend of the restart when Wigan Athletic were the visitors to the West Yorkshire.

Danny Cowley’s side will be hoping for a different outcome to the one in that game, and the one in the reverse fixture with Preston at Deepdale in November, when the Lilywhites ran out 3-1 winners.

THE OPPOSITION

The Lilywhites haven’t quite had the post-lockdown start they would have hoped for in search of a Play-Off place come the end of the season.

Alex Neil’s side have only picked up one point from a possible nine in the opening few rounds since the Sky Bet Championship’s restart.

Following a draw at Luton Town on their return, Preston have lost to both Cardiff City and Derby County on home soil in the last week.

It continues their struggles for form that hampered them prior to the season’s suspension, in which they won just one of their last five before the break.

Results either side of the restart have seen them slip to ninth in the table, four points off sixth place Cardiff City.

The Lilywhites will be hoping to kick-start some late-season momentum with a sixth away win in the league and a first on the road since a 2-0 victory at Stoke City in February, when they travel to the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday.

ONES TO WATCH

Declan Rudd

The goalkeeper had loan spells with the Lilywhites during both the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons before making the move from Norwich City permanently in 2017. This season, Rudd has played in every minute of Preston’s Sky Bet Championship campaign and is the only Lilywhites player to appear in all 40 of the Club’s league games so far this season. The 29-year-old also represented England at several youth levels between Under-16s and Under-21s.

Declan Rudd.jpg

Patrick Bauer

Having played in both his native Germany, and Portugal earlier in his career, Bauer got a first taste of English football when he joined Charlton Athletic in 2015. After four years in the capital, which included scoring the Addicks’ stoppage time winner in the 2019 League 1 Play-Off Final, the German defender put pen-to-paper on a three-year deal with Preston ahead of the current season. Since then, Bauer has impressed in the Lilywhites defensive line and has been key to their push for promotion across his 35 league appearances so far this season.

Patrick Bauer.jpg

Daniel Johnson

Johnson is a player well known to many in the Sky Bet Championship, with 2019/20 his fifth season in the division at the Deepdale Club, following his move from Aston Villa in 2015. The 27-year-old has frequently featured in an attacking midfield role across his 214 appearances for the Club, scoring 43 times and providing 24 assists. In this season’s Sky Bet Championship, Johnson has a team high in both goals (12) and assists (5) for Preston.

Preston Daniel Johnson.jpg

TEAM NEWS – TOWN

Manager Danny Cowley will provide an update on the fitness of his squad ahead of Saturday’s game during his virtual press conference on Friday 3 July 2020.

Tommy Elphick and Jaden Brown are Town’s only absentees, whilst Juninho Bacuna is suspended.

KIT

Town will be back in the blue-and-white stripes for Saturday’s game at the John Smith’s Stadium – CLICK HERE to get yours!

iFollow HTAFC

2019/20 Season Card holders who have not taken a refund or e-credit will again have free access to the game.

Supporters who are not Season Card holders can buy a match pass to watch the game for £10 - click HERE for more info!

Town's match previews are sponsored by Stafflex!

Match Reports

REPORT: TOWN 0-0 PRESTON NORTH END

4 July 2020

Huddersfield Town played out a 0-0 draw with Preston North End in a game of few clear-cut opportunities for either side at the John Smith’s Stadium.

The visitors had the better of the late chances through substitutes Scott Sinclair and Sean Maguire, but Town held firm to pick up another important Sky Bet Championship point in West Yorkshire.

Three days on from the win at Birmingham on Wednesday night, Danny Cowley made two changes to his starting XI with Trevoh Chalobah coming in for his first start since the season’s resumption, alongside Alex Pritchard.

That meant a few landmark appearances amongst the Town team, including a 200th league start in Town colours for Jonathan Hogg, whilst Elias Kachunga made his 100th Terriers league appearance.

After a minute’s applause from both sides to mark and say thank you to the NHS on its 72nd birthday, the encounter got underway under sunny skies at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Still thriving on the energy brought by a first win since the restart in midweek, Town matched the promotion-chasing Lilywhites in the early stages, in a high tempo start from both teams.

With both sides attempting to seize the early initiative in West Yorkshire, the game’s first quarter lacked real chances at either end.

The drinks break on 22 minutes didn’t do much to change that either, but it was the visitors who registered the first half-chance, as Patrick Bauer met a corner from the right but his downward header evaded the goal.

As the break approached, it was another Josh Harrop corner from the right that provided the visitors’ bigger threat on goal, with Andrew Hughes meeting this one but he could only head over the crossbar.

Town’s first sighting of goal came courtesy of Lewis O’Brien who tried his luck from range, but his driven effort was straight down the throat of Preston ‘keeper Declan Rudd.

After a lengthy stoppage with Captain Christopher Schindler down past the 45th minute mark, a half of few chances was brought to a close by referee Darren Bond.

Looking to spark more of an attacking threat in the Town ranks, Danny Cowley made two changes at the break with Collin Quaner and Steve Mounié introduced.

Despite that, both sides continued to cancel each other out and it was the defensive work of the backlines that was most prominent.

Schindler looked to have shaken off the bang to the head he sustained in the first half, continuing to marshal Town’s defensive set up from the back, alongside Richard Stearman, with some tireless work to protect the Terriers’ goal as the minutes continued to tick away.

For an encounter that provided few clear-cut chances, Town had to be alert as the game entered five minutes of stoppage time.

Substitute Scott Sinclair had a duo of opportunities, firing wide on either side of the goal with them before fellow sub Sean Maguire saw his effort go close, but one that could only find the side netting from inside of the box.

The forward’s effort was the final kick of the game, with Town holding out to pick up another important point in the Terriers’ fight to stay in the Sky Bet Championship for next season.

Next up for Town is a trip to the Madejski Stadium to face Reading in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday 7 July 2020; 6pm kick-off.

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-2-3-1)

Jonas Lössl; Harry Toffolo, Christopher Schindler (c), Richard Stearman, Trevoh Chalobah (Jon Gorenc Stanković, 85’); Lewis O’Brien, Jonathan Hogg; Karlan Grant (Chris Willock, 75’), Alex Pritchard (Emile Smith Rowe, 55’), Elias Kachunga (Collin Quaner, 46’); Fraizer Campbell (Steve Mounié, 46’)

Unused subs

Joel Coleman; Rekeil Pyke, Andy King, Demeaco Duhaney

PRESTON NORTH END (4-2-3-1)

Declan Rudd; Andrew Hughes, Ben Davies, Patrick Bauer, Joe Rafferty; Ryan Ledson (Scott Sinclair, 84’), Ben Pearson; Josh Harrop (Sean Maguire, 72’), Alan Browne (c) (Jayden Stockley, 72’), Brad Potts, Thomas Barkhuizen (Billy Bodin, 87’)

Unused subs

Connor Ripley; Darnell Fisher, Tom Bayliss, Jordan Storey, David Nugent

REFEREE

Darren Bond

Standings