PNE make the trip to Oxford United on Saturday afternoon

Preston North End will have a remarkable 16th attempt at beating Gary Rowett this weekend.

The Lilywhites make the trip down to the Kassam Stadium to face Oxford United. PNE go into the game on the back of draws with Coventry City and Wrexham, sitting fifth in the Championship table. Oxford are 21st but have only lost one of their previous five meetings, including a win over Ipswich Town and draw with Middlesbrough.

While Paul Heckingbottom and co will be focused on the task in hand, anyone with a connection to North End knows the Rowett factor at play this weekend. Incredibly, he has never lost to Preston as a manager - across stints in charge of Birmingham City, Derby County, Stoke City, Millwall and the Us.

He has a record of eight wins and seven draws against the Lilywhites, with five of those victories inflicted during his reign at the Lions. Rowett also picked up two wins over North End while at Derby, with the one other win coming as interim boss of Birmingham at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Stuart McCall on the record

PNE’s assistant told the Lancashire Post: “It's funny, somebody just mentioned that and it is an incredible stat from him. So, hopefully he'll go down with the flu, he won't be there and then it'll be his assistant and we can get over that hurdle. But yeah, a bit like our hoodoo over Coventry, in a way.

“I didn't know that. What is it against Preston? I have no idea, but you know what they say about these runs - they're there to be broken and obviously, that's what we're aiming to do. But no, he's a wise man, hes a wily manager Gary, knows the league well and as I say, you only have to look at the last two home games.

”You know, they fully deserved the three points against Ipswich and they were in the game against Middlesbrough, and got a good point. So, they'll be looking to back up the recent home form and we'll obviously be hoping to break that hoodoo he has on us.”

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