Football – England – League One
Saturday 4th October 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Following back-to-back wins over Crawley Town 2-0 at home and last Saturday’s solid 2-0 away win at Coventry City, Simon Grayson’s team will be looking to register a third consecutive League One win this afternoon when they host fifth from bottom club Colchester united at Deepdale.
Preston have snuck into the top six on the back of those descent wins and another three points today could see them move into second place should other results go their way. Their overall form has been pretty steady so far this campaign having lost just once (a slightly surprising 1-3 loss away at Walsall), but they’ve been unbeaten on home turf to date.
Preston’s overall home record this term stands at 2-3-0 8/5 and in fact, they are unbeaten in their last eighteen matches at Deepdale – their last defeat was to Brentford just before Christmas last year, with Brentford eventually being promoted to the Championship later on.
Visitors Colchester United have lost just once in their last five matches overall with recent wins over strugglers Leyton Orient and Crewe Alexandra (both away from home) along with draws against Walsall and Bradford City, but I do feel there’s a bit of a smoke-screen with their recent results.
The away wins came at teams currently situated in the bottom six of League One who have won just one home game between them out of a total of nine matches. This hopefully puts Colchester’s current away record of 2-1-2 7/4 into perspective a little, with their two defeas coming away at top half teams (Bristol City and Notts County).
To sum up, Preston hold a very solid record at their Deepdale fortress and it remains to be seen whether Colchester can win away at the top sides on the road. I’ll therefore back Preston for the points today in what could be either a 1-0 or 2-0 win.
Pick: Preston North End straight win @ 1.62 Bet Victor
