THE CHAMPIONSHIP: 31° GIORNATA

Barnsley1-1IpswichFT
Bristol City0-2LeedsFT
Cardiff1-0ScunthorpeFT
Coventry2-1Crystal PalaceFT
Derby0-2LeicesterFT
Doncaster0-2PortsmouthFT
Hull1-0PrestonFT
Middlesbrough3-4SwanseaFT
Norwich2-1ReadingFT
Sheff Utd1-1MillwallFT
Watford1-3BurnleyFT

Zona alta: in attesa del big match di domani tra QPR e Forest, oggi vincono tutte le inseguitrici.
Il Cardiff grazie ancora ad un gol nel finale di partita (Olofinjiana al 85), lo Swansea grazie ad un pazzesco 3-4 al Riverside contro il Boro, il Leeds con un buon 0-2 a Bristol ed il Norwich che batte il Reading grazie ad un gol del solito Holt al 91.

Salgono sempre di più Burnley, Leicester e Hull che possono ancora rientrare in zona play off, mentre rallenta il Watford.

In coda perdono Pne, Boro, Palace e Scunthorpe, mentre lo Sheffield si fa raggiungere sul 1-1 a tempo scaduto. Importante vittoria x i Pompey.

npower Championship - Updated 13/02/2011			HOME					AWAY
Pos	Name	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	QPR	30	10	4	1	32	10	6	7	2	17	8	+31	59
2	Cardiff City	30	9	4	2	27	14	7	2	6	22	21	+14	54
3	Norwich City	31	9	3	4	29	22	6	6	3	20	17	+10	54
4	Swansea City	31	9	3	3	19	6	7	2	7	22	24	+11	53
5	Nottm Forest	28	9	6	0	26	11	5	4	4	13	12	+16	52
6	Leeds United	31	8	3	4	30	24	6	7	3	27	23	+10	52
7	Leicester City	31	9	4	2	30	16	5	2	9	18	31	+1	48
8	Burnley	30	9	3	3	29	19	3	7	5	17	18	+9	46
9	Millwall	31	9	3	3	25	12	3	7	6	15	19	+9	46
10	Hull City	31	6	6	4	14	8	5	6	4	23	25	+4	45
11	Watford	29	6	5	4	28	21	6	2	6	26	23	+10	43
12	Reading	30	6	6	3	24	15	4	6	5	20	18	+11	42
13	Barnsley	31	8	5	3	23	14	3	3	9	14	31	-8	41
14	Coventry City	31	7	3	6	21	18	4	3	8	14	20	-3	39
15	Ipswich Town	29	7	1	6	21	18	4	4	7	15	20	-2	38
16	Doncaster	29	7	4	4	21	17	3	3	8	20	31	-7	37
17	Derby County	30	6	2	7	26	18	4	3	8	15	26	-3	35
18	Portsmouth	30	4	6	4	25	21	5	2	9	16	25	-5	35
19	Bristol City	31	5	4	7	18	24	4	4	7	17	22	-11	35
20	Middlesbrough	30	6	4	5	23	21	3	2	10	13	20	-5	33
21	Crystal Palace	31	7	4	4	17	13	1	3	12	12	37	-21	31
22	Sheffield Utd	30	4	3	8	16	25	3	4	8	11	23	-21	28
23	Scunthorpe	28	1	3	9	10	26	6	0	9	17	26	-25	24
24	Preston	29	3	3	9	14	26	2	3	9	15	28	-25	21

THE GENTRY DAY

Preston North End's Gentry Day is fast approaching with the annual day of remembrance being part of the Lilywhites v Tigers fixture this Saturday.
This momentous day has become an important ritual for proud PNE supporters and this year will be no exception with fans donning a bowler for the North End Gentry 2011 away match against Hull City on Saturday 12th February. 
This annual occasion has become a highlight in PNE fans' calendars and with over half of the initial ticket allocation already sold out it would be a great shame to miss out on this social event of the year.
Fans who are encouraged to join in by wearing bowler hats of any description, with some also planning to demonstrate the Proud Preston spirit by wearing pin-striped suits and ties. Manager Phil Brown has even said he will be wearing his own bowler in the dug out to mark the occasion.
It is also important to remember why the Preston Supporters Group (PSG) continually organise this special day and where any proceeds go to. This significant occasion is to remember the PNE fans that have passed away in the last 12 months and are no longer a part of the 'PNE family.' Donations raised on the day will go to the PNE Disabled Supporters Association. 

LE CONDIZIONI DI MC LAUGHLIN

Preston North End right-back Conor McLaughlin is on the early road to recovery after undergoing ankle surgery on Sunday.

And with the procedure, completed at Manchester's Alexandra hospital, going according to plan the Northern Ireland U21 star now has to endure six to eight months on the sidelines.

The 19-year-old suffered a fracture to his left fibula and a dislocated ankle in Saturday's Championship clash with Bristol City at Deepdale.

His injury came as a bitter blow to manager Phil Brown who had earlier praised the youngster as being the stand out performer in recent weeks.

Conor has played in North End's last six games and has been popular amongst the fans for his hard working, skilful play. 

But North End's number 37 is in good hands with a strong medical team at Deepdale who have been closely monitoring the injury from the moment he was stretchered off on Saturday.

Talking exclusively to PNE.Com about Conor's injury, head physio at the club, Matt Jackson, said: "Conor suffered a fracture dislocation of the left ankle, fracturing the lower end of his fibula and rupturing the ligament complex on the inside of his ankle and the fibrous band that secures the fibula to the tibia on the outside of his ankle. 

"After relocating his ankle and stabilising the joint on the pitch he was stretchered off. Conor went down to the local A&E where he had X-Rays and was put in a back-slab plaster of Paris cast which is a half-and-half cast that allows for swelling.

"On Saturday evening we transferred him over to the Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle Hulme where he was seen by Tim Clough, who is one of the leading ankle surgeons in the North of the country.

"After further X-Rays the decision was made that he would need an operation so at 10am the following morning he had the fracture fixed with a plate and underwent a repair of the syndesmosis.

"The ankle was reduced to its normal position, post-operatively the ankle was nice and stable, the technique to repair the syndesmosis allows for a small degree of movement which the joint needs for the ankle to function normally."

The injury happened directly in front of the technical area in the final stages of the first period and within seconds the medical staff were on the pitch to help the injured teenager.

Jackson was aided by the services of Mick Rathbone, Dominic Lakeland and Jonathan Sumner in a swift procedure which left the youngster on the Deepdale turf for five minutes.

Talking about the incident, Jackson continued: "It happened right in front of the dug out so I saw it really clearly. He has gone up to win the header and there has been a little bit of contact meaning that when he landed he rolled over the top of his foot. 

"He planted his forefoot in the ground and his momentum has carried his body forward as he fell back on to his foot. 

"His foot was trapped underneath him and it rotated for about 120 degrees which is a heck of a lot more than the ankle joint is designed to move."

And talking about the pitchside procedure, Jackson added: "We relocated his ankle on the pitch whilst we were positioning Conor onto his back so we could put him onto the stretcher.

"We just applied a little bit of traction to his ankle and as he rolled over it relocated itself basically just with our support.

"On the pitch we took his boot and sock off because we needed to check the blood and nerve supply to the foot. If either the blood supply or the neural supply was compromised then that's when you start to get complications.

"Obviously if any tissue is starved of oxygen for more than two minutes you start to get tissue death but in Conor's case everything was ok.

"This meant we could have splinted it on the pitch and reduced it later on in hospital but it just happened with a little bit of gentle traction and upon rolling him into position it relocated."

Conor, who was being watched on Saturday by Northern Ireland coach Nigel Worthington, is now expected to be sidelined for six to eight months which means he will more than likely miss pre-season with the Whites.

The physio concluded: "If it was just a fractured fibula and plated you would be looking at three months but because of the syndesmosis injury and the rupture of ligaments that complicates things further. 

"Realistically, as a best case scenario, you are looking at six months but the time frame we have put out there is six to eight months."

MC LAUGHLIN INFORTUNATO

Purtroppo altra brutta notizia per il North End che nella partita contro il Bristol, oltre ad aver perso malamente il match, ha perso anche Conor Mc Luaghlin, vittima di un brutto infortunio.

Ovviamente auguro al giovane Conor di riprendersi il prima possibile e spero che questo infortunio non vada a complicare la sua crescita e la sua carriera.

Manager Phil Brown confirmed that young Northern Irish U21 full back Conor McLaughlin had fractured his fibula and dislocated his ankle in the injury that saw him stretchered from the field just before half-time in the home defeat to Bristol City.
"Conor has fractured his fibula and dislocated his ankle as well and it is the dislocation that is the complicating factor," confirmed the boss. "It's a real disappointment because he is a good kid and a player who is at the beginning of his career and this is a set back. 
"He'll got to the hospital tonight in Manchester and probably get a pot on it for about six weeks and he'll be out for a while now.
"It's disappointing because he's been on top of his game. The national squad were here to watch him today and he was part and parcel - as he has been since I arrived - of a good performance. Unfortunately it is one of those freak accidents but I am sure Conor is strong enough to come back from it."

PNE-BRISTOL CITY 0-4

Questo è forse il punto più basso della stagione del North End....

La situazione in classifica era pessima, ma alla vigilia di questo delicato scontro diretto per la salvezza c'era molta fiducia e con i nuovi acquisti sul mercato di gennaio la squadra sembrava essersi rinforzata soprattutto in attacco, reparto che, soprattutto dopo la partenza di Parkin, era in maggiore difficoltà.

Phil Brown per questa partita decisiva da giocare in casa di fronte al pubblico amico era sicuro che la squadra avrebbe reagito ed avrebbe fornito una prestazione convincente.

Le speranze erano tante, servivano assolutamente i tre punti e Brown ha deciso di schierare contemporaneamente i tre nuovi attaccanti Ellington, Johnson e Clarke per cercare di dare un'impostazione offensiva alla squadra, per cercare di aggredire subito i Robins.

Ed invece tutto è stato vano e le speranze si sono spente molto presto...

Finisce addirittura 0-4 per il Bristol City che festeggia a casa nostra, ottiene tre punti pesantissimi per la propria classifica e lascia i Lilywhites tristemente all'ultimo posto...

La classifica parla chiaro, il North End è a -10 dal Palace quart'ultimo che oggi ha vinto lo scontro diretto contro il Boro, la situazione è sempre più difficile e la cosa peggiore è che non si vede una reazione, non arriva la vittoria nemmeno oggi in casa contro il Bristol...

Rimangono sempre due partite da recuperare, ma bisogna vincerle...

Saturday, 5 February 2011

Npower Championship

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Time
Preston	0-4	Bristol City	FT
(HT 0-1)
		Keogh 5 Clarkson 56 Clarkson 65 Pitman 85

Hide team line-ups and match stats

Preston

• 01 Lonergan
• 04 St. Ledger
• 19 Jones
• 29 Cort
• 37 McLaughlin (Brown 45+2)
• 15 Barton
• 20 Russell (Mayor 67)
• 24 Ashbee
• 18 Ellington
• 23 Clarke (Parry 66)
• 27 Johnson

Substitutes

• 25 Arestidou, 
• 05 Brown,
• 10 Nicholson, 
• 14 Mayor, 
• 17 Parry,
• 41 Carter, 
• 08 Hayes

Bristol City

• 01 James
• 03 McAllisteryellow card
• 04 Fontaine
• 06 Carey (Edwards 88)
• 36 Caulker
• 07 Elliott
• 11 Woolford
• 21 Cisse
• 27 Adomah (Pitman 46)
• 09 Clarkson
• 15 Keogh

Substitutes

• 12 Gerken, 
• 05 Stewart,
• 22 Nyatanga, 
• 23 Edwards,
• 08 Johnson, 
• 17 Sproule, 
• 34 Pitman

Ref: BatesAtt: 11,784