Yeovil Town are back in SkyBet League One action this coming Tuesday night with an away trip to play-off chasing Preston North End.
The Glovers will be hoping to add some momentum to Saturday’s impressive home win over Bradford City.
This fixture is being played in midweek due to both sides involvement in the FA Cup third round at the start of January.
The achievement of taking six points from two sides challenging for promotion would be quite incredible, but with Yeovil finally back in that winning groove, the midweek fixture may just give the Glovers every chance.
Preston played on Friday night, so could sit back and relax on Saturday while the others played their fixtures.
North End’s 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient saw them come from behind to take the lead before Chris Dagnall scored a last gasp equaliser to rescue a point for the strugglers.
That fixture saw Preston give a debut in goal to Manchester United loanee Sam Johnstone.
Johnstone played one fixture for Yeovil in the Championship last season, the 2-0 defeat at Burnley before having to return to Old Trafford through injury.
Jermaine Beckford and Paul Gallacher, also both on loan from Bolton and Leicester respectively were on target for the Whites on Friday and they have paired up well to minimise the impact of losing top scorer Joe Garner with a long term injury.
With the front line duo being assisted with England international Kevin Davies – with 800 career appearances behind him – the attacking prowess could be the biggest test for the Yeovil defence in a long while.
The Yeovil defence hit the headlines this week with Kieffer Moore stepping in as a make shift centre back.
The Glovers’ top scorer filled in next to Stephen Arthurworrey and gained rave reviews for his performance replacing suspended Ben Nugent.
Nugent sits out the second of his four match ban this Tuesday and with the quick turnaround from the weekend additional central defensive cover may not be brought in in time.
The Glovers have added to the squad since Saturday bringing in full back Liam Shephard on a youth loan from Swansea.
He joins Gozie Ugwu and Jamar Loza as the new arrivals in the squad.
Ugwu scored on his debut on Saturday and will be hoping to add to his quick start up at Deepdale.
Earlier this season, the two sides met at Huish Park and it was Preston who came out victorious with a 2-0 win.
Paul Gallagher secured the points late on, but it was another former Glover, Paul Huntington who scored the opening with a header from a set piece.
Prior to that, the two sides met during the Glovers’ promotion season of 2012/13 no fewer than three times.
Twice meeting at Deepdale, one in the league and one in the FA Cup, both of those away days ended in defeat and both saw midfielder Ed Upson sent off.
In the Huish Park league fixture however, Yeovil came from behind to secure a 3-1 win.
James Hayter, Nathan Ralph and Paddy Madden all scored in the final 15 minutes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The only other Yeovil win in this particular head to head came the season before, again at home and again red cards tainted the performance. Huntington shown red after an Andy Williams double had the game wrapped up.
But it was the dismissal of Craig Morgan after only three minutes that set the tone for the fixture.
Tickets for this fixture are available on the day for anyone making the journey to Lancashire, but if a 500+ mile round trip doesn’t quite take your fancy you can buy tickets for home matches by clicking HERE.
That includes this Saturday’s home fixture versus Coventry as well as both home games in February.
As for Tuesday, you can dial into Glovers Player for full match commentary as well as catching up on all the post match reaction on the club’s YouTube channel.
The Glovers could be out of the relegation zone by the weekend and with your support the long awaited climb up the table could be underway with positive results.
Preston North End
Famous Fans: WWE Wrestler and former Intercontinental Champion Wade “Bad News” Barrett and BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson.
A Foot in Both Camps: Aaron Brown, Craig Davies, Max Ehmer, Paul Huntington, Jamie McAllister and new signing Sam Johnstone.
Did you know: Preston was home to Britain’s first KFC.
