Caught cold: The numbers behind Preston North End conceding early goals in recent games

Against Cardiff last week it was a case of blink and you’ve missed it at the start of both halves.

Inside the first minute, the Lilywhites conceded a penalty, thus began a tough old afternoon in Wales.

The half-time tea cups were still warm when Cardiff netted just 27 seconds after the interval.

Earlier in the month, PNE full-back Joe Rafferty had the misfortune of heading into his own net just 17 seconds into the game against Rotherham at Deepdale.

In the FA Cup defeat at Wycombe in January, the hosts were ahead inside three minutes.

Earlier in the season, it took Birmingham only one minute and 14 seconds to go in front at Deepdale.

In terms of conceding goals, this season’s early ones don’t quite compare to what happened to North End in April 2006 at Leicester.

Foxes striker Matty Fryatt found the net after just nine seconds of that clash.

Credit to PNE, it didn’t leave them too shell shocked and they hit back to win 2-1 with goals from Simon Whaley and Jason Jarrett.

In terms of PNE scoring early doors, perhaps the quickest goal seen at Deepdale came in the 1986/97 promotion season.

Gary Swann took just 16 seconds to open the scoring against Stockport.

In more recent seasons, Daniel Johnson found the net after 32 seconds against Brentford at Griffin Park in September 2015.

When North End beat Blackburn 4-1 in November 2018 at Deepdale, Tom Barkhuizen was off the mark with 67 seconds on the stopwatch.

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