Preston Grasshoppers vs. Sedgley Park – Kick Off 2.30pm
Preston Grasshoppers play hosts to another local side this Saturday at Lightfoot Green when Sedgley Park make the relatively short journey from Prestwich, Manchester.
After suffering the shock of a last minute defeat last Saturday at Huddersfield when with just a few minutes remaining a five point victory looked nailed on, the home side will be looking to get back to winning ways with a repeat of their last home performance when Fylde were defeated.
Our visitors have won two of the opening games they’ve played this season, narrowly away at Huddersfield but with a bigger margin over Otley at Park Lane last weekend after suffering defeat at Wharfedale and will be hoping to go one better than recent seasons in gaining automatic promotion this time around.
Encounters with our hosts from Greater Manchester commenced just about ten years after our move from Lea to Fulwood with an away game and victory by twelve points to six. Sedgley had stepped into a vacant Easter Saturday fixture date on the 2nd of April 1983 after Blackburn had pulled out and the event started a short run of fixtures for just three years all of which were won by Hoppers.
The next time the two clubs met was in the first ever League fixture which was played at Park Lane back in 1997 when Hoppers continued their winning ways with a narrow twenty points to sixteen victory. Hoppers went on to complete the double that season and it wasn’t until we played a Lancashire Cup tie at Lightfoot Green during the 2000/2001 season that ‘Park achieved a victory over Preston Grasshoppers, something that was repeated in league form at the double during the following season when Hoppers were relegated from National 1. Sedgley Park however remained at Level 3 and apart from a number of Lancashire Cup ties and a pre-season fixture during 2011, the two teams hadn’t met again in league action until the 2013/14 season.
The complete playing record between the two club’s 1st XV’s shows that the three Club games back in the 1980’s were all won by Hoppers, fourteen league wins are shared equally whilst Lancashire Cup clashes stand in Hoppers favour by four to three and a pre-season game played at Lightfoot Green back in 2011 turned out to be a comprehensive victory for the visitors. So apart from the pre-season game, there have been twenty four games in all between the two clubs, Hoppers winning fourteen to Sedgley Park’s ten.
DIGGER
Photo courtesy of Mike Craig
Team News
Hoppers side for Sedgley sees several changes from last week with Paul Arnold starting in the second row and Oliver Trippier coming in on the flank. The backline is unchanged but Jack Edwards, Jake Squirrell and Jack Akrigg take their places on the bench.
1. Oga Mabaya
2. PJ Millea (C)
3. Peter Altham
4. Paul Arnold
5. Luke Procter
6. Ally Murray
7. Oliver Trippier
8. Matthew Lamprey
9. James Gough
10. Thomas Davidson
11. Conor Trueman
12. James Fitzpatrick
13. Sam Stott
14. Tyler Spence
15. Scott Jordan
16. Connor Johnson
17. Ryan Wilkinson
18. Jack Edwards
19. Jake Squirell
20. Jack Akrigg
