The game has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch and will be rearranged for a later date.
Preston Grasshoppers vs. Leicester Lions – Kick Off 2.30pm
Hoppers entertain Leicester Lions this coming Saturday hoping to get back to winning ways after a disappointing result in appalling conditions last Saturday at Harrogate’s new establishment, Rudding Park. It’s quite possible that a number of the many Hoppers followers who made the journey still haven’t dried out since last week, both externally and internally! However there will need to be a major improvement in the weather from the time of writing if this weeks fixture is to take place.
Last season’s Vice Captain Ally Murray is due to make his one hundredth appearance for the club on Saturday and has the distinction of starting in every fixture since before the start of last season being the only player not to miss a game last season and one of only two ever presents this term.
Another player due to make a landmark appearance on his next outing is ‘Skipper’ Andy Napier who will reach the fifty league game mark when he next leads out his team.
Fixtures against this coming weekend’s opponents began relatively recently when the Lions gained promotion into the National Leagues as Champions of Midlands 1 at the end of the 2004/5 season which coincided with Preston Grasshoppers promotion from North 1. Since then both clubs have occupied places in National 2 North.
The share of victories in the resulting encounters is exactly equal with each club winning ten of the contests and with the Lions winning just twice at Lightfoot Green and Hoppers the same number at Westleigh Park, showing the advantage in this particular fixture over the years favours the home side. Leicester Lions last success in Preston came five seasons ago with a twenty two points to five victory.
Our visitors have had a more successful season to date than Hoppers and currently sit just above half way with seven victories to their name and after suffering something of a thrashing at Macclesfield the previous week got back to winning ways last Saturday with a last gasp penalty try home victory over Caldy.
After opening the season with three consecutive victories, two of which were at Tynedale and Otley (their last away from home), ‘The Lions’ have been on a ‘win one lose one’ run of results ever since only broken with a drawn game against Stourbridge back in early October. That being the case, Hoppers supporters will be hoping the sequence hasn’t been disturbed after their visit to Lightfoot Green this week.
Photograph courtesy of Mike Craig – ‘Soon-to -be-Centurion’ Ally Murray gets the ball away to Danny Madden despite some close attention from the opposition during Hoppers last home game versus Sandal.
