'Surely a wind up?' - Frustration sparked by QPR vs Preston North End fixture change

Preston North End's away clash at Queens Park Rangers has been pushed back to a 5:15pm kick-off at Loftus Road.

The Championship fixture on Saturday, 20 April, was due to take place at 3pm. But, after being selected for Sky Sports coverage, will now get under way at quarter-to-six in the capital. The match will no longer be available to watch on iFollow PNE - in most regions. Tickets details will be confirmed in due course.

But, the news has sparked frustration among the North End faithful - some of whom had pre-booked train travel to London. With a 5:15pm kick-off, catching a train back to Lancashire will be far more rushed, after the game. It is the 44th league game of Preston's season, with the rearranged Southampton away match four days prior - on Tuesday, 16 April.

Reacting to the announcement on 'X' (formerly Twitter), @myoungy posted: '19.30 train back already booked and non refundable'. @louise_pne said: 'Superb for all the travelling fans... not' - while @ChrisCarter90 simply stated: 'Terrible'.

@TC7123 was left to question: 'F--- sake, booked train tickets yesterday. What happened to the rule about Sky giving 5 weeks notice?' - to which @Thomas_Langman replied: 'Exactly the same! It’s out of order.'

Equally frustrated was @davidlowes62, who said: 'EFL & Sky...putting fans first as usual! NOT!!' And @ColloLew posted: Same time as City v Chelsea FA Cup semi final, what’s the point of this?' That view was shared by @SamSutton17, who wrote: 'Surely a wind up? Everyone’s bought train tickets and they’ve changed it this late on. . . Who is watching QPR vs North End on Sky on a Saturday evening.'