Preston North End can bring Gary Rowett’s incredible 13 game record to an end this weekend

Preston North End can achieve a first this weekend at Deepdale: pick up three points against a team managed by Gary Rowett.

The Lilywhites return to Championship action after the international break, with Millwall the visitors to Deepdale for a 12:30pm kick off in front of the Sky Sports cameras. Third placed North End are looking to bounce back frrom three consecutive defeats and rediscover the form which saw them go eight games unbeaten at the start of the campaign.

Back on home soil, Ryan Lowe’s men face the 15th placed Lions - who are five points worse off than Preston heading into the match. In the opposition dugout will be a manager who loves going up against the Lilywhites. Remarkably, Rowett has taken on North End 13 times as a manager and is yet to lose a single game. His teams have won seven matches and drawn six.

The 49-year-old first faced PNE with Birmingham City, before going on to manage Derby County and Stoke City prior to Millwall. The Blues drew 1-1 and 2-2 with Preston in the 2015/16 campaign. North End then drew two all at Birmingham again the following season. Coincidentally, Rowett was sacked in December 2016 and PNE beat Birmingham a couple of months later - after his dismissal.

On to Derby and the Rams saw off Preston 1-0 early in the 2017/18 season, before winning by the same score line at Deepdale towards the end of that campaign. The narrow defeat at home was a crushing result for PNE, with Alan Browne missing a penalty and Derby then pipping Preston to sixth place by two points. Alex Neil’s team finished seventh.

Rowett then moved to Stoke but only lasted eight months. His Potters team drew 2-2 at Deepdale and again, PNE won in the reverse fixture - but 18 days after Rowett’s exit. Before becoming Millwall manager, Preston had drawn four games against Rowett and lost two. Needless to say, then, it is with Millwall where the manager has really thrived when facing the Lilywhites.

The Lions won 0-1 at Deepdale in February 2020 - Shaun Hutchinson scoring a late second half winner. Millwall then ran out 0-2 winners in Lancashire the following season, behind closed doors, before triumphing 2-1 at The Den in March. PNE drew both games against Millwall in Ryan Lowe’s first full season, with Ben Whiteman missing a penalty in a goalless away draw - before a 1-1 share of the spoils at Deepdale, in April. And last season, Rowett’s men won both games; PNE losing 2-4 at home and 2-0 away.