Where is blackburn rovers

They were a very pleasant bunch and a good bit of banter was had too. I met a few friends, but decided to avoid the pubs in case they got a bit rowdy with home protests against Steve Kean, so with us all wearing our colours, decided to stay away. Seemed a really nice ground to be fair, we went into the club shop about an hour before the game which was very impressive compared to ours, I must say. Good atmosphere around the stadium and the away end seemed to be good.

A few ambitious Swansea City fans thought they were "Legendary" enough to enter, much to the amusement of the Stewards who quickly escorted them out with big smiles on their faces. Rovers 4 Swansea 2. Not the best of games for us. A few of our fans were escorted out after banging on the sides of the stand so I recommend nobody does that.

There was one particularly attractive female steward who took my attention for most of the game. They were really nice, to be fair. No mocking, no gloating. Very honest, real fans. I must say I was very impressed! Despite the result, it was a very good trip on the whole. Good local fans supporting their team and no trouble at all around the ground.

One of the better away days so far this season! Well done, Blackburn! This was to be my first trip to Ewood Park. A first visit to a ground always makes it more exciting. Have I made the right choice of pub? Will the motorways be clear? Ewood Park is a really easy ground to find if approaching from the M65 — basically one road off the motorway. We drove around the area looking at our pre chosen potential parking and pub spots but eventually decided on parking at The Golden Cup pub just by the M65 bridge.

This is about a mile from the ground but we based our decision on being informed that the roads immediately around Ewood Park would we blocked off for a while after the game. On walking back in the seriously heavy, heavy rain we saw no evidence of roads being blocked — that said, the ground was probably only half full. We spent an hour at the Golden Cup pub before the game. This pub seemed to be for away fans in the main but the odd friendly Blackburn face was also on show. Once inside the stadium the ground has a quaint feel to it with trees visible in the open corner sections — a sort of larger version of Shrewsburys' old Gay Meadow ground in some ways?

Where we certainly were not robbed is in the catering department! One or two taunts from some young Rovers fans accompanied our walk to the car but nothing sinister! I enjoyed the day, despite the result.

I was looking forward to visiting Ewood Park as I had never been before and it's always looked a tidy ground from when I have seen it on television. I used the official coach provided by Millwall so it was very easy.

Coach parked right outside the away stand. We didn't arrive until gone two, so we made our way straight into the ground. Did not seem to be many home supporters about. I was impressed with the ground. From turning up outside the away stand it looked huge.

Made my way inside and took my seat. It's what I call a proper football stadium with the stands fairly close to the pitch. Three sides very neat, tidy and match and should they build the fourth side to match then the ground could be up there with the very best.

I really enjoyed the game. Very good performance from my team recording a very impressive away win. Blackburn is not a happy place at the moment and the atmosphere from the home end was unsurprisingly subdued but the travelling support was very vocal and it made for a great atmosphere. The facilities in the away end were very good as are the catering facilities. Stewards were helpful and friendly. Only complaint was they do not let you outside at half time for a cigarette so the toilets soon become the alternative place to smoke which is not very pleasant.

Really enjoyed my trip to Blackburn. For once the weather was better up north than it was down south, a fantastic performance and a fine away win by Millwall and the 65th ground ticked off my list. Blackburn are fairly local, which makes the game a small derby, so it promised to be an exciting fixture with a good atmosphere.

Ewood Park is a traditional football ground, giving it that special feel to match the occasion. We got the train to Preston, where we quickly changed onto another train heading for Mill Hill Station. Mill Hill is around 10 minute walk from Ewood, making it very easy to get to by rail.

Mill Hill is much closer than the main Blackburn Train Station. The train from Preston to Mill Hill was small, with only two carriages, which made for a tight squeeze due to the number of football fans piling on. After getting off the train and walking to the stadium, we had over an hour and a half to spare.

We walked 10 minutes past the away end in order to drink at the only designated away pub. This is The Golden Cup. The pub is very small, meaning queues for ale were outside the door. None of the four or so pubs around Ewood accept away fans. The concourse serves good food and drink.

However, it is fairly tight when busy, made rather uncomfortable by the Bolton fans having a disco! Ewood Park is a proper English ground with plenty of character. The small Riverside Stand to the right of the away end may be seen as unappealing by some, however I believe it adds to the character of the ground. Around 3, Bolton fans made the trip and made a good amount of noise.

A number of home fans are housed in the same stand as the away fans, and they provided a good amount of banter with us. They carried on all game which gave us something to compete with, which led to a cracking atmosphere.

The opposite end to us seemed like the 'main home area' with this being the busiest, and loudest section when they sang. The rendition of 'No Nay Never' at the start of the second half was impressive.

We massively dominated the game, and were up with twenty minutes left. Rovers played dreadfully all game but manged to pull a late goal back. Thankfully, we saw the game out and took the victory back to The Reebok with us. The game was feisty, full of passion, great entertainment and most importantly gave us three valuable points in a competitive division.

Leaving the Darwen End was rather intimidating as home and away fans spilled out together, this being in the darkness due to the kick off. With Bolton fans happy, and the home fans not so, there were a few scuffles. This appeared to only be from a minority of home fans, and the police swiftly resolved the situation. We arrived back at the station 15 minutes after leaving Ewood, where we had a friendly conversation with a group of Blackburn fans who were friendly and welcoming.

Blackburn is a great away trip, easily accessible and on the whole a friendly place. The home fans provided one of the best atmospheres in the league which made this trip more entertaining than the others I have been to this season.

My only criticisms would be the away pub due to it's small size, the cramped concourse, and the seats appeared to have little leg room, which wasn't an issue as we didn't sit down all game! I will definitely return next season if we both remain in the Championship. Another new ground for me, had already earmarked this before the fixtures came out. Unfortunately we were drawn away to Blackburn in the 3rd round of the FA cup about a month prior to this so we did not take a big following to either ties we took in the cup.

We'd taken 1, to Bolton towards the start of the season and would have taken at least this amount if we hadn't played Blackburn in the cup. One of the bigger grounds in the division and a ground I've seen on TV many times so I was looking forward to seeing my team play here.

Easy, from the pub we went to the Anchor on Blackburn Road it was a straight road to the ground, albeit a fairly long one. We parked in a car park two minutes walk from the stadium for a fiver. Went to the Anchor which was the advised away fan friendly pub as the usual one the Fernhurst was closed. It is quite near to the exit off the motorway so perfect in that sense. Parked in pub car park along with a couple of minibuses and a coach full of city fans.

Great pub inside although no proper cider — 2 pool tables, football on the TVs and darts. Quite a few city fans inside and a couple of Blackburn fans who seemed friendly. Got into the ground just before KO so not enough time to get a drink in the ground but was impressed to see were selling Kingston Press cider which most city fans seemed to be drinking.

Ground looked impressive from the outside and was good inside too. Three stands of similar description and all separate. One older stand along one side set slightly back from the pitch added character to the ground. Away concourse was small but plenty big enough for our small following. I did think how cramped in must be when Man United pack out the away end. The ground was less than half full so seemed a bit poor in that sense but got the feeling that a sell out crowd would make a fantastic atmosphere.

We lost to two Jordan Rhodes goals. Atmosphere was quite good from the home fans — their bulk of singers stood in the same stand to our right. Must have been over who stood and sang throughout — some good banter. Their home end was heard once or twice when two nil up too although they were quiet from where I was stood for most the game and only had a few standing. We were poor as usual for our away support. Most sat but we still had or so stood and sang up until midway through the second half.

Stewards made no attempt to make anyone sit down which was good. A couple of city fans were ejected when they scored their first goal — unsure exactly why this was and it did look like one of the stewards punched a lad which meant a few fans rushed over to have a pop at them. All calmed down in a couple of minutes after some pushing and shoving. Traffic was bad after the game. We crawled our for about 20 minutes — soon as we got on motorway we were fine all the way back. Disappointing result but was impressed with the ground and their fans relative to some other home fans.

Why you were looking forward to going to the ground or not as the case may be : A new ground for me and unusually, I was going to be on my own other than in the company of other Leeds fans.

I had seen Ewood Park many times on television and had not been particularly impressed, but the reality proved to be somewhat different. From the motorway junction the signage directs one down under the motorway bridge and the ground is at the bottom of the hill.

Ewood Park is also within walking distance from the railway station. I was therefore pleased to find early arrival gave me a choice of on street parking: to the left of the Gold Cup pub immediately under the motorway bridge or on the main road after the traffic lights, leading down to Ewood Park. The walk to the ground took no more than 10 minutes. Having plenty of time before the game, I took the opportunity to add to my collection of stadium photographs.

As kick-off approached there were plenty of Leeds fans around wearing colours with no suggestion of trouble. Watching the teams arrive home fans were quite happy to engage in conversation, perhaps partly due to the fact that we have had similar experiences in recent years owners and managers we have not been happy with; performances failing to live up to expectations etc. For those looking for a pub, the Golden Cup, just off the motorway, is designated for away fans.

I suppose he was the ideal football club owner: a fan, with the money to build a successful side and a ground to match. As with many traditional football ground locations, Ewood Park is flanked on one side by terraced housing, but on the other by a small river. The stand adjacent to the latter is somewhat incongruous, being a single tiered affair with pillars, whereas the other three stands are modern steel-and-glass and bigger than I had anticipated. Inside, the ground is similarly modern: clean concourses at least in the away end , great lines of sight and close to the pitch.

Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc.. The game was reasonably entertaining, with Leeds looking the more likely scorers. It was therefore a surprise when it ended — our first goalless draw in odd games. The Leeds supporters easily outsang the home support who had perhaps lost their collective voice having eventually persuaded the owners that Steve Kean was not the man to take the club forward.

Stewards were polite and unobtrusive. Toilets were clean but probably inadequate at half time after the quantity of beer that was presumably consumed before the game. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game: The police had a well-rehearsed procedure for handling the crowd after the game: much of the road immediately outside the ground was cordoned off to traffic. I had a ten minute walk back to the car, which I had parked close to the motorway, followed by a ten minute delay as departing coaches were given priority over side roads.

Once on the motorway it was a clear run home on the M Summary of overall thoughts of the day out: Although the result was slightly disappointing, this was a great day out. I liked the fact that there was none of the faux atmosphere some clubs e. Wigan create to try to cover for the lack of noise coming from the crowd — we don't need that sort of Americanisation in football.

But the main memory of the day was the people I came into contact with at Blackburn: home fans, stewards, programme sellers, ticket office- and catering staff were friendly and unusually in my experience courteous — a real credit to the club.

Lancashire Derby mainly but with both us and Rovers surprisingly struggling to stay in the Championship — us after a season of monumental upheaval — this was a big one.

Also, I for one, was looking forward to giving Michael "Voldemort" Appleton some stick after he defected from us to Rovers, only for Rovers to sack him a few days before the game. I decided against taking the car and went by train instead. Poulton le Fylde to Preston was fairly straightforward but Preston to Blackburn was not. First of all, the loutish behaviour of some of our fans was off putting and the train journey to Blackburn was an insight into how sardines must feel.

Memo to self: Take the car next time. Had a drink in the Mill Hill and Haverstock pubs, about a mile from Ewood, with friends before making my way to the Darwen End. Rovers and Seasiders happily mingling on the way to the ground. I find Rovers fans very friendly and always willing to chat about football.

Ewood Park, it has to be said, is too big for a town the size of Blackburn. Rovers, like the rest of the Lancashire clubs, do not have a big catchment area of support to draw upon.

However, the facilities, policing — at Ewood itself — and stewarding were excellent. Rovers were totally dire and we weren't much better either. Which was one of the reasons both of us were at the bottom end of the Championship. The game's main highlight was when one of our fans, dressed as a chicken to take the urine out of the Rovers support, was unfairly ejected from the ground.

Big Gary Mackenzie gave us the lead midway through the second half before Jordan Rhodes, despite being so offside he was in Yorkshire, equalised for Rovers. Most of the atmosphere came from us Seasiders as usual as I thought the atmosphere from the Jack Walker, Blackburn End and Riverside Stand was funeral-like, to put it mildly.

Fair result in the end. Walked back to Blackburn station only to be met by a heavy handed Police who thought Blackpool fans were intent on trouble.

Given that we have a lot of females and children amongst our support, I was angry that they were put in such a situation. Felt very uncomfortable with this and it so nearly kicked off when one of our fans was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. Glad to get home in the end. Despite the result, both of us survived comfortably in the end. But what should have been a good day out, as it usually is when I go away with Blackpool whatever the result, was spoilt by Lancashire Police's Riot Squad- like tactics at Blackburn station and the behaviour of some of our fans which only exacerbated the situation.

I haven't attended an away Leeds game for over 30 years and decided to take my son to his first ever. We left Grimsby at am and it was very easy to park up the hill near the M56 junction on a street, arriving at We went in the small Golden Cup pub for a drink till about pm. It was packed with about Leeds fans both inside and out. There wasn't any trouble at all. Didn't see any Blackburn fans until we walked the short distance down the hill to the area around the ground. There was a large police presence and they looked on edge, but I saw no incidents.

It was a fantastic view from the 4th row of the upper tier of the Darwen End, right behind the goal. The Walker stand looks good but only had a couple of thousand in it. The game: well we had a great view of an abject performance by both teams really. The stewards were there; and that was about it. I didn't see any of them talking to anybody. We stood up the whole match so don't really know if the seats were too cramped.

The queues for food were too long to join and the toilet facilities were good. Very easy to leave the ground and getting back to the car was quick and we were back on the motorway within 20 minutes of the final whistle. A great day out, we'll do it again next year if we are still in the same division as them, and hope for a better result.

Plus it was to be my first away game unaccompanied, as previously I have always gone with my Dad. So I was looking forward to meeting up with my mates for the day out in the North West. I traveled up on the supporters bus from Cardiff. It was a Friday night game and we left at about pm.

Still we did better than a lot of other Cardiff fans, who I noted were still coming into the ground at half time! As I said we only had a few minutes before the game, so it was straight into the stadium, although a few of the home fans gave a lot of banter on the way which was good.

Pretty much the same as a lot of grounds with four separate stands. Three of them were modern looking with one older stand located on one side. I did note that eventhough the away end was pretty modern, there was not much room to walk or move in, between the rows. The stewards were very good with us all. Plus the atmosphere was also very good, with both sets of fans with us being side by side in the same stand.

However, the facilities weren't brilliant as there was no organised queuing system on the concourse and the serving staff had little space to work in. Which meant it took me a good 20 minutes to get served at half time. After the game it was very easy getting away from the ground on the coach, as the police gave us an escort away from the stadium and back into the motorway. There were no traffic problems on the way back. The day was very enjoyable, after we finally arrived there after a gruelling journey.

The game ended in a draw, so at least we picked up a point. Both teams put in good performances although Cardiff seemed to run out of steam a bit in the second half. I'm normally not one to have a got at the, referee but there were some very questionable decisions throughout the match. But all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the day out. I'd never been to Ewood Park before, and after a terrible set of results in November, the Wolves had just hit a bit of decent form, so I fancied us to possibly get a result.

This was despite our best player Bakary Sako being unavailable because he was off to play in the African Cup of Nations. After rounding up a party of people to travel with my dad and my brother, essentially , it was just a case of getting tickets. We went on the club's official coaches, as on this occasion it worked out as the cheapest option. The journey took about 2 hours 10 minutes; we left Molineux at 10am and arrived at Ewood Park at pm.

The ground did seem to be on a fairly straight road from the M65, so I'd suggest it's fairly easy to get to. There was plenty of car parking space, I noticed at least 3 decent sized car parks on my way there, all reasonably close to the stadium.

I had a little walk around the ground, then got chatting to a couple of Blackburn fans. They were very happy to chat, but weren't feeling too confident ahead of the game. I noticed quite a few places to eat around the ground, so you certainly won't go hungry or thirsty! The ground is a decent size, with three large stands and one slightly smaller one on the far side. The away and home ends look identical. One nice touch I noticed was that in the space between the away end and the Main Stand, there was a pictorial history of Blackburn on the wall.

Being a Wolves fan, the history of a club is always something I'm interested in, so seeing Blackburn's pride in what they've achieved was great to see. More clubs should do that. Like Molineux, Ewood Park also has a statue to honour one of its former greats. Jack Walker was a local lad done good, who invested millions into the club, and saw them win the Premier League in Speaking to a couple of Blackburn fans stood by the statue left me in no doubt as to how respected and revered Jack was to the people of Blackburn.

Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc…. The game itself was, as our manager Kenny Jackett later described, "A typical Championship game". Neither side could really dominate the first half, nor break the deadlock. Whilst Wolves probably shaded possession, Blackburn had the two most presentable chances. Ben Marshall's fizzing free kick was superbly saved by Carl Ikeme, whilst Rudy Gestede powered a header just wide from 12 yards.

At the other end, Nouha Dicko's low drive very nearly squirmed into the near post, and skipper Danny Batth's towering header was cleared off the line.

Second half though, the game really opened up, and the more expansive play really suited the pacey Wolves attackers. We took the lead right at the start of the half, some excellent work from Dicko finding 'Dangerous' Dave Edwards, who turned inside Grant Hanley before firing into the bottom corner. After that it was all Wolves. Dicko thumped the bar with an effort, Edwards twice slid in but couldn't convert low crosses from James Henry then Rajiv Van La Parra, whilst Batth again came close with a header, this time though his effort from 6 yards missed the target.

Blackburn's best chance of an equaliser came when Richard Stearman comically headed against his own post. Late on substitute Josh King found a yard of space and hit the target, only to be denied smartly by Ikeme.

Wolves held on though for an impressive win, to take their run to 3 straight League wins. But for a 'Nightmare November', as I've christened it, we could quite easily be challenging at the table's summit. As it was, the three points took Wolves to 8th, and within a point of the play-off places.

I thought the atmosphere was a little subdued at times. Ewood Park was by no means full, the fact that it was just after Christmas, and 2pm on a Sunday perhaps contributing to a lower than usual gate.

The home fans got behind their team occasionally, but the loudest chant was aimed at their manager Gary Bowyer. The away end was split between home and away fans, which as you can imagine led to some banter between the two.

One particular group of surly youths, resplendent in trackies and trainers, copped some frightful stick from my fellow Wolves fans as they walked out early. The stewards did their jobs effectively, without getting involved.

It's always good fun when you have a numbered ticket, because when showing you to your seat, stewards often assume you can't count. Well, that's usually how numbers work, thanks.

All joking aside, they were very friendly. The food was your usual football ground fayre- pies, burgers, hot dogs. You can gain calories just looking at the menu. I had a marvelous 'Peppered' Steak Pie though, I really recommend it. On a cold Lancashire afternoon it was perfect. Notice how I've put the Peppered part in inverted commas though, because it was very peppery!

It took me until the following Tuesday to get some of my taste buds working again. I often read horror stories about the male toilets at football grounds, the sort that make me glad to be a girl. The female toilets tend to be well maintained, and Ewood Park was no exception. The concourse was actually very spacious I felt, and even at Half Time when everybody was down there you could just about walk round without knocking into people too badly.

If you can pick your way through the adverts there were some excellent articles, including what looks like a season-long feature on the Premier League winning side. Very easy, the coaches were parked at the back of the away end, so a 2 minute walk from the stand to the warmth of the coach, and after a 10 minute wait we were off.

The journey home was accompanied by 5 Live's commentary of Southampton beating Man Utd at Old Trafford, followed by the usual collection of nutters phoning up To listen to some of them, it's amazing they've worked out how to use a telephone to ring up, honestly. Obviously a win always makes those away days feel sweeter, but I did really enjoy my trip to Ewood Park. It has the feel of a modern stadium, but one that's very much in touch with its past. Blackburn's fans were very accommodating and friendly, and whilst the atmosphere wasn't the greatest, I can imagine when it's full for those thunderous Lancashire derbies, that it can get very raucous.

Journey time from M65 to parking just over five minutes and from there it was just another five minutes walk to the ground with the away end the first bit you reach. We went to the Fernhurst Lodge which is on the left after the junction with the A What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of Ewood Park?

That is until you look to your right at the Riverside Stand. This is a stand which looks more like League One or League Two standard, where entrance is from the front, leaving a large track between the pitch and the stands for access.

Other than that it all looked pretty modern and the away stand has good clear views of the pitch. The early kick off time and poor form of Blackburn Rovers meant there was less home fans than in previous years and not too much noise coming from them.

Stewards were fairly relaxed certainly compared to the ones at Elland Road! We were back at the car within ten minutes of the final whistle and on the motorway a further minutes after that.

Thoroughly enjoyed being back on the road with Leeds especially as we got a rare win ! Next season, we would actually meet the Rovers. As equals. A date not to be missed. Especially after those years of having to endure basement division football whilst they lorded it in the lofty reaches of the Premier League.

The days of the Rovers using OUR ground for their reserve matches. As fate would have it, I was come the turn of the new year in the following season almost chest deep in cardboard boxes as I prepared to move out of my little flat in south London to become a home-owner down in Kent. Both the Rovers and North End went on excellent runs as the green shoots of spring first appeared……….. History will relate how Deepdale roared as Birmingham City were edged out in the play-off semi-finals and a day of destiny beckoned in a play-off final against Bolton Wanderers.

Hence once the euphoria and the hangover wore off following our play-off final victory in our first in 10 attempts against a hapless Swindon Town, I served notice to the Missus that the fixture at Ewood WOULD be one of those to be attended by myself irrespective of weddings, funerals, court appearances, graduation ceremonies and the like.

I conceded that only the end of the world alone would be a good enough reason not to go and I seem to recollect that the away fixture at Bolton was put into the same category.

Burnley, Bolton Wanderers, and Blackburn Rovers. Hence I have to admit, the imminent build up to the clash at Ewood did fill me with the proverbial pangs of doubt. It seemed almost too much to hope for, all the laws of probability betted against it, and part of me almost felt self-reproachful for being greedy. After the attention of a local mechanic and shelling out for a new battery, we could look forward to the next stage of the mission….. I opted to worry about the poorly motor car the following day as it was fairly late, and it seemed logical to get some sleep.

After a hearty and leisurely breakfast we started to wander down towards Ewood Park on foot. This was an interesting dichotomy; I could tell our eldest was simply buzzing with anticipation of what was hoped would be a keenly fought derby match, yet for me it felt a trifle odd. For starters, having been a frequent visitor to Blackburn in my formative years to visit relatives a whole branch of the family resided here , it seemed weird to be in familiar surroundings yet for an unfamiliar event.

I guess also there may have been an element of anti-climax as it seemed all so relaxed and tame after eight months of waiting….. Once in sight of Ewood Park however, all of that changed; I stopped focusing on weirdness and instead found I was bubbling now with excitement.

And now here we were; the Preston North End arriving for a derby fixture at another famous old ground. The aroma of burgers cooking from various vans wafted across the air as a helicopter in police colours hovered overhead; a reminder as if it were needed that a key derby fixture was about to take place.

As we had club colours very much under wraps, we happily went for a little wander around the immediate vicinity of the stadium. Similarly to our own home at Deepdale, a historical old ground has survived the post Taylor Report era with flying colours and still resembles a proper football ground. There are three fairly similar looking modern stands comprising the new main stand flanked by the Blackburn End behind one goal, and the Darwen End behind the other, whilst the slightly smaller Riverside Stand seems slightly out of place but pleasingly still gives the ground some character.

The icing on the cake is that standing sentry either side of the Riverside are two proper floodlight pylons that help preserve that most essential flavour of a football ground. Perhaps most poignant is the statue to Jack Walker. We looked at it for some time whilst I informed my younger companion of the significance of the contribution made by the local lad made successful industrialist towards his boyhood club. Nearby, a big screen was showing extended highlights of the clash between the 2 sides earlier on during the season at Deepdale, where the men from Ewood ran out winners.

In the intervening few months, one of the scorers for Rovers that afternoon Jordan Rhodes had been sold to Middlesbrough seemingly without replacement, and any hope they may have sustained to reach the promotion play-off places had long evaporated. Meanwhile, Preston had consolidated their place in mid-table quite comfortably, and whilst mathematically still in with a shout of play-off contention, I think all but the most over-optimistic North-Ender would have accepted that they were realistically out of reach.

Now you could have been forgiven for thinking that with nothing to really play for, both sets of supporters would have been fairly muted……but with local bragging rights up for grabs the atmosphere was positively beginning to crackle in and around the ground. Indeed, the Darwen End was a complete 7, sell out for Preston fans, most of whom arrived in good voice following the short journey along the A There was even suggestions that several hundred Preston supporters unable to get tickets had, or were planning to try and get in other stands to watch the match.

By the time the teams came out of the tunnel to the sound of Coldplay, the atmosphere in the Darwen End was positively jumping as the 7, strong legion of Preston supporters implored their players to dig deep and secure more local bragging rights.

Once the game got underway, it commenced with that classic tough keenly fought battle that you hope and expect for in a derby match. You could sense it mattered to both sets of players.

Not entirely against the run of play, the home side took the lead on the quarter hour mark courtesy of an Elliot Ward goal following up good approach play, and to be honest we could have had few complaints. I started to get that sinking feeling that today was not going to be our day, and that the car breaking down twice had been an omen……..

Ten minutes later however, there was a brief flurry of activity at the other end as we pressed for an equaliser only to be denied by a great one-handed save courtesy of a desperately outstretched arm — a save that any keeper would have been pleased with — except the problem for the Rovers was that the person making the acrobatic save was in fact not their goalkeeper but their defender Shane Duffy.

The referee had little choice but to produce the red card and award a penalty, and a downcast but unsurprised Mr Duffy trudged disconsolately off the pitch without protest. Meanwhile all around me 6, Preston fans danced with delight at the penalty decision. I stayed rooted to the spot. The talismanic Joey Garner, once on Rovers books many moons prior stepped up to take the penalty and I could hardly watch………but I suspect I was one of the loudest as we saw the bottom of the net balloon as the penalty was despatched.

Once again though, my nerves started to set in as we failed to capitalise on several good chances, and I started to wonder whether the curse of 10 men would strike against us. I think I hid the nerves well though, as I joined in with every chant going….. Just before half-time, we finally did take the lead with a good move from the midfield maestro Paul Gallagher allowing Jordan Hugill to bury a shot and put the travelling Preston faithful into raptures.

Now we sensed a rout, as we dominated the second half, and made the extra man count in just about every department except in front of goal.

Even the substitute appearance of Jermaine Beckford failed to seal the third goal that would have possibly put the game to bed.

And as the minutes ticked down, so the nerves returned. So close we seemed now to that 3rd away win of the big derbies, it was tantalising, yet the Rovers 10 men valiantly threw everything including the kitchen sink at a tiring Preston back-line. They even carved out a gilt edged chance to score that had 7, hearts in the mouths……….

The ref blew for full time….. The post-match raucous celebrations went on for an eon, and the players and the manager came over to salute the fans and enjoy the moment. For me, it was an overwhelmingly great and almost emotional moment. This was the signature to a purple period for us and our little club, and how golden it felt to have a clutch of players who clearly took such pride in playing for the club and the supporters, and it felt only right that they took time to really enjoy the moment too.

Most of them had been instrumental in achieving promotion the previous season too, and it really was just one of those beautiful moments in my life of supporting Preston North End. There are I suppose, few perfect moments in football. But that makes us savour them all the more when we have them.

Eventually we filtered out of the ground and dispersed in various directions. Daniel Ayala 31 years old 14 2. Wharton 24 years old 1 0. Edun 23 years old 9 0. Carter 21 years old 9 0. Lenihan 27 years old 15 1. Travis 24 years old 17 0. Garrett 18 years old 0 0.

Magloire 22 years old 4 0. Johnson 34 years old 4 0. Davenport 22 years old 7 0. Khadra 20 years old 7 1. Rothwell 26 years old 17 1. Dolan 19 years old 16 3. Rankin-Costello 22 years old 1 0. Clarkson 20 years old 6 0. Buckley 22 years old 16 0. Dack 27 years old 0 0. Poveda-Ocampo 21 years old 7 1. Cirino 18 years old 0 0. The passing of Jack Walker in would mean that Blackburn no longer had the same economical strength. Since the season the crest has been on the team's shirt.

The first version of the crest was consisting of the Lancashire rose with the B. FC initials below. Later versions added a circle with the team name and establishing year. Also at the bottom, the latin words "Arte Et Labore" could be found which in English translates to "By skill and by labour" and remains from an old town motto of Blackburn. Birmingham City FC. Titles in total: 3 Premier League titles: 1 First participation: First title: The season was abandoned after three rounds and is therefore excluded.