Focusing on Ryan Lowe’s return to Plymouth Argyle and struggling Stoke City, Preston North End’s March

| March 1, 2024 | Plymouth Argyle | No Comments

Preston North End will know a lot more about their play-off credentials after March – which sees five fixtures come the Lilywhites’ way.

It’s Hull City at home first, before a long away trip to Southampton n midweek. PNE then host Stoke City, with an even longer away day at Lowe’s former club, Plymouth Argyle, to follow. After the international break, Rotherham United provide the final test of the month, at Deepdale.

Here, we take a look at the five upcoming games and opponents.

Preston will seek revenge for their narrow defeat away from home, earlier this season. Alan Browne was denied a penalty that day and Jaden Philogene punished PNE with a solo strike, to win the game. Both teams go into the weekend's clash in strong form and it will be fascinating to see which potent attack comes out on top. Liam Rosenior gets plenty of plaudits, having established himself as an impressive, young head coach. He's got some serious quality at his disposal though and North End will need to be right on it - backed by the Deepdale crowd - to keep those players as quiet as possible. It's set up to be a cracker.

1. Hull City (H) – March 2

Preston will seek revenge for their narrow defeat away from home, earlier this season. Alan Browne was denied a penalty that day and Jaden Philogene punished PNE with a solo strike, to win the game. Both teams go into the weekend’s clash in strong form and it will be fascinating to see which potent attack comes out on top. Liam Rosenior gets plenty of plaudits, having established himself as an impressive, young head coach. He’s got some serious quality at his disposal though and North End will need to be right on it – backed by the Deepdale crowd – to keep those players as quiet as possible. It’s set up to be a cracker.

Russell Martin's team were on a scintillating run of form and appeared unstoppable, but perhaps it was always going to be tough to sustain it. Three defeats in the last four league matches has shown Southampton are not invincible, but PNE will be wary of those results 'poking the bear'. The Saints are still in the automatic promotion hunt and North End will need to put in a huge team performance at St Mary's, but they should head there in a good place. The two sides contested an enthralling match at Deepdale and any repeat of that would be a treat, under the lights.

2. Southampton (A) – March 6

Russell Martin’s team were on a scintillating run of form and appeared unstoppable, but perhaps it was always going to be tough to sustain it. Three defeats in the last four league matches has shown Southampton are not invincible, but PNE will be wary of those results ‘poking the bear’. The Saints are still in the automatic promotion hunt and North End will need to put in a huge team performance at St Mary’s, but they should head there in a good place. The two sides contested an enthralling match at Deepdale and any repeat of that would be a treat, under the lights.

That picture doesn't quite match the current mood at Stoke City, looking in from the outside. The Potters are in serious relegation trouble, sitting 22nd in the Championship table. Steven Schumacher has not had the desired impact since replacing Alex Neil - and there has even been reports of Stoke looking into replacing him already. Jon Walters has been brought in as interim sporting director, with the former Stoke forward trying to rally the club's supporters. Ex-PNE men Daniel Johnson and Ben Pearson have fallen down the pecking order, with the former having not made the last few match squads. Stoke will head to Deepdale absolutely desperate for some points.

3. Stoke City (H) – March 9

That picture doesn’t quite match the current mood at Stoke City, looking in from the outside. The Potters are in serious relegation trouble, sitting 22nd in the Championship table. Steven Schumacher has not had the desired impact since replacing Alex Neil – and there has even been reports of Stoke looking into replacing him already. Jon Walters has been brought in as interim sporting director, with the former Stoke forward trying to rally the club’s supporters. Ex-PNE men Daniel Johnson and Ben Pearson have fallen down the pecking order, with the former having not made the last few match squads. Stoke will head to Deepdale absolutely desperate for some points.

Ryan Lowe should receive a tasty reception at Home Park! At the time of writing, Argyle's form has been patchy but they picked up a huge win at Middlesbrough last time out. Plymouth have picked up 28 of their 40 points at home, with it a seemingly difficult place to go and get a result. Only the top four clubs, and Norwich City, have scored more goals than Argyle this season - so it could be an end-to-end encounter on the south west coast. It's Preston's first trip there since 2010 and three points, heading into the international break, would be a massive boost.

4. Plymouth Argyle (A) – March 16

Ryan Lowe should receive a tasty reception at Home Park! At the time of writing, Argyle’s form has been patchy but they picked up a huge win at Middlesbrough last time out. Plymouth have picked up 28 of their 40 points at home, with it a seemingly difficult place to go and get a result. Only the top four clubs, and Norwich City, have scored more goals than Argyle this season – so it could be an end-to-end encounter on the south west coast. It’s Preston’s first trip there since 2010 and three points, heading into the international break, would be a massive boost.

Tags:, ,

Related Posts

About The Author

sportwords

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *