The last time Preston Grasshoppers travelled to the city of Kingston-upon-Hull it was to play a game in which the result would determine if either club could survive the drop from National 2 North.
Words by Mike Forshaw, picture by Catherine Forshaw – Hoppers vs Wirral last weekend in torrential rain!
Hoppers needed just a point and Hull a win with the hope of others slipping up. That was back in April 2015 and when the final whistle blew it was Hoppers you celebrated victory and our opponents from Humberside slid into what was then North 1. Current Hoppers Ally Murray and Scott Jordan got onto the score-sheet that day.
Ever since relegation back in 2015, Hull have knocked on the door of promotion but haven’t managed to push though. They finished just a couple of points behind Rossendale last season who eventually lost in the play off game and Hull appear to be making an even bigger effort this term with the result on Saturday possibly being decisive come next April.
Selection
Our hosts have won their last nine league games at Chanterlands Avenue with their last defeat there coming at the hands of Rossendale last November. However, the visitors will recall Sandal proudly holding a similar record until after the visit of Preston Grasshoppers a couple of weeks ago.
Games between Hull and Hoppers have usually been tense affairs and I’m sure this Saturday’s game will be no exception. Our hosts currently sit atop the league table due to a better points difference than ourselves. Similar to Hoppers they are ‘two from two’ after a home victory on the opening day of the season over Rossendale and the ‘Nilling’ of newly promoted Pocklington on the road last week who have yet to cross the whitewash and score a try. With just eight minutes remaining in the game a bonus point looked like a forlorn hope but three tries later it was in the bag for the visitors.
Hoppers will travel across to Hull with the scalp of much fancied Wirral under their belt after a last minute try from Matt Lamprey once again gave them the bonus point. Last week’s performance was a step up from the one at Sandal as the players begin to gel as a team and it won’t be long before they really click and give someone a real hammering.
Preston Grasshoppers supporters who travelled to Hull’s Howarth Road ground for the first meeting between the two sides back in the 2004/5 season will be hoping for a similar outcome, but hopefully avoiding the last minute nervous wait as the ball slid wide of the upright giving the away side the closest of victories thirty four points to thirty two. The situation of that game was very much the same as this weeks encounter as on that occasion both sides were striving for promotion from North 1. Hoppers ended the season as Champions whilst it took Hull until 2009 to escape.
The statistics tell us there to have been fifteen meetings between the two clubs with Hoppers holding the upper hand, winning nine including one in a National Cup tie to Hull’s five successes plus an eighteen all draw.
