Preston

Ground: Deepdale

Visits: 1

Date: 5th August 2013

Match: Preston - Blackpool 1-0 (League Cup)

Attendance: 17 470

On Monday morning I left Birmingham for Preston. The first week of August was also the first round of the League Cup. I knew one of those matches, being shown live on TV, would be moved to Monday evening. Luckily for me it was Preston vs Blackpool that was to be played on Monday evening. Deepdale in Preston is a ground I haven't been to yet and Blackpool are Preston's biggest rivals. A local derby with tickets costing only £10 should mean a big crowd and a great atmosphere. My train arrived at Preston shortly after 1pm and I then made short walk to my hotel, Premier Inn. Once there I waited for my friends from Umeå, Stefan and Jocke. Around 2 pm the telephone in my room rung. "Mr Nilsson, there is something wrong with your booking. Can you please come to the reception". This was of course Stefan trying his best to fool me! We then went out to have something to eat and drink before going back to the hotel to rest for a while.

Preston North End is not any other club. Formed in 1863 they are one of the oldest football clubs in the world. They were also founding members of the Football League and back in 1888/89 they became the first ever champions of England. Preston also won the FA-Cup that year and are one of few clubs having won the double in England. Preston North End play at Deepdale. This ground has been completely re-built over the years and is today a very nice football ground. Four different stand with a total capacity of 23 000. One interesting thing with the stands are that faces of some of Preston's are pictures in those stands. Very nice and a bit different. We arrived outside the ground around 6.15pm and as I was queuing to pick up our tickets I here a voice saying my name in English. I turned around a there was Everton fan and groundhopper Graeme, who I met in Stockholm earlier in the summer. Sometimes it really is a small world! We then chatted for a while before I entered the ground. Our seats were in the Sir Tom Finney stands and we had an excellent view from there. The stand to our left (Bill Shankly Stand) was fully packed with Blackpool fans and in total around 5 000 away fans were inside Deepdale this evening. The Alan Kelly Stand to our right was fully packed with home fans and during the match both sets of fans created a brilliant atmosphere. To be true the actual match was not very good. In The end only one goal was scored. In the 87th minute Preston scored from a free-kick, 1-0 to Preston and an absolutely electric atmosphere inside Deepdale.

As the final whistle went hundreds of fans invaded the pitch and ran towards the Blackpool fans. Thankfully no (or at least very few) away fans made it onto the pitch. For a while I though it might kick-off for real but as soon as the police horses arrived the home fans ran back to the stand. Horses obviously have a deterrent affect and it looked like the home fans were running for their lives. One horse hit a steward who was then overrun by another horse. Steward to hospital and maybe a banning order for the horse. For a neutral like myself this was a really exciting evening in Preston and I fully enjoyed my visit to Deepdale. Tomorrow I go to Morecambe for another match in the first round of the League Cup but I doubt that match will be as exciting as the one at Deepdale.

deepdale