Preston North End kept waiting for 5,000th game landmark - that should have come against Derby County this weekend

The visit to Derby County to Deepdale was to have been the milestone, one to take great pride from.

Just imagine for a moment what might have been, Ben Pearson back fit after his hamstring injury crunching into Wayne Rooney early doors.

No doubt more than a smattering of boos from the North End faithful aimed in Rooney’s direction – they won’t have forgotten his last visit to Preston when he went to ground a bit too easily to earn a penalty for Manchester United in the February 2015 FA Cup fifth round tie.

In the technical area, Alex Neil would have been stood in his all grey PNE staff attire a few yards along the touchline from 101-cap Holland international Philip Cocu.

In the reverse fixture at Pride Park in November, it was Cocu who saw his side come out on top, the Rams beating PNE 1-0.

The opportunity to play the 5,000th game will come, it’s just a case of being patient and realising that health and welfare come first in trying to get through the pandemic.

Once action resumes, whether Derby will be the landmark game for North End, we don’t know.

If the current fixture list is resumed and played in order, it will.

However, there might be some re-jigging of the fixture list, an earlier midweek game perhaps squeezed in. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

North End have played 2,499 home league games and 2,498 away.

They have won 1,940 games, drawn 1,283 and lost 1,774.

In the league they have scored 7,398 goals and conceded 6,958 – a very healthy goal difference of plus 440!

PNE’s record win in the league is a 10-0 victory over Stoke on the opening day of the second league season in 1889. Four times they have shipped seven goals in a league game.

So what about the previous milestone games for North End?

Their first league game saw a 5-2 win over Burnley on September 8, 1888.

The 1,000th league game was a 3-0 defeat at Cardiff on February 14, 1922.

North End’s 2,000th league game came in November 1952, Sir Tom Finney and Charlie Wayman scoring in a 2-1 win over Charlton at Deepdale.

League game 3,000 came in April 1976 at Rotherham, Gordon Coleman scoring in a 1-1 draw.

The 4,000th was a 2-2 draw against Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Ground in September 1998 – Michael Jackson and Jason Harris on target.

Now on 4,997, North End find themselves knocking on the door of the Premier League.

When the fixtures were suspended, they were in sixth place with 56 points from 37 games.

In terms of consistency over the course of the season, this is their best campaign for a decade or so.

PNE’s form wasn’t good going into the enforced break, with four defeats in five games.

So how things play out when eventually the season resumes will be interesting.

Will the break halt the momentum of the teams who were in a bit better form?

Mind you, bar Leeds in second place who had won five on the bounce, none of the chasing pack were exactly breaking any pots in terms of results.

When action resumes, there is the possibility that games might be behind closed doors – to start with at least.

If the measures regarding large gatherings are still in place – no emergency services cover for example – clubs will have to play in empty grounds.

That might have to be a concession football makes in order to get the season finished during the summer.

Hopefully we are in a better place by then and some sense of normality will have returned. But let’s not jump the gun.

The 2019/20 season is one which will certainly be looked back on in history as being ‘different’ to say the least.

War has twice halted the league programme, this time the modern enemy is an invisible one but extremely dangerous.

In terms of the football, at least the English game has sung from the same hymn sheet in recent days.

There was an almost unanimous agreement to finish the season – just the odd exception.

That will protect the integrity of the EFL and Premier League, play to a finish and then breath a sigh of relief.

Talk of when to start next season is still premature, focus on getting this one to a climax and explore the options beyond that.

In the meantime, clubs must cope the best they can with the shutdown.

Financially it is not going to be easy, in line with any other type of business at this time of crisis.

In terms of fitness and health, players need to be kept active without mixing for the time being.

Easier said than done, although the many videos of players juggling loo rolls show skills have not been lost!