Hull vs. Preston Grasshoppers – Kick Off 2pm
Phil Baines scores Hoppers only try last Saturday against Darlington Mowden Park
As Hoppers head east towards Humberside this coming Saturday they’ll be hoping to carry the second half performance from last week into the game against Hull. The Ferens Ground will be the venue and hopefully a second consecutive victory for the visitors after breaking their duck at that particular ground last year.
Hoppers will know what to expect from this weeks opponents, where their big pack of forwards will try to dictate the pattern of the game, unless there’s been a sudden change of tactics from last season and recent outings.
After playing all bar Macclesfield of the six teams above them so far this season, Hoppers will be looking forward to playing sides all sitting below them at present for a change. For during the next six weeks we have fixtures against the five teams which make up the current bottom six before facing Macclesfield at Priory Park in December.
Hull slipped uncomfortably into one of the relegation places after losing heavily at Caldy last Saturday when the Cheshire outfit leapfrogged their opponents in the league table after the victory. Hull will be comforted in the fact we aren’t even a third the way through the season yet so there’s plenty of time to pull away, although a look at the league table at this stage last season shows the teams eventually relegated already occupying the bottom three places. Our hosts solitary win this term came against bottom club Dudley Kingswinford who remain the only team without a win this season.
Fixtures against Hull’s ‘Town’ Club are only recent events, the first taking place back in the 2004/5 season at their old ground Howarth Road when Hoppers were victorious by thirty four points to thirty two. The home team missed a late kick at goal for victory helping Hoppers on their way to promotion. As mentioned earlier, Hoppers record shows just a single victory at The Ferens Ground having lost on their three previous visits with just a single losing bonus point to show for all their efforts before last seasons five pointer. The statistics tell us there to have been eleven meetings between the two clubs with Hoppers holding the upper hand, winning six including a win in a National Cup tie to Hull’s four successes plus an eighteen all draw.
Games due to be played at Lightfoot Green this coming Saturday include our currently unbeaten 2nd’s against Sandbach whilst the Fifths play Tarleton Seconds and finally the Sixths entertain Blackpool’s First XV.
Photograph Courtesy of Mike Craig.
