Preston North End 2 Tranmere Rovers 1

Match summary (from the Town End)

Daniel Mayor - wing wizard

North End matched a strong Tranmere team keen to attack with long balls deep into Preston territory throughout. Preston lost Parry late on.he earned a second yellow card for grappling too vigorously with Tranmere right winger Atkins, who caused problems all day.

Preston spluttered at times, with Tranmere disrupting and defending with effficiency and energy. Tranmere, while energetic, lacked real quality in attack, however, which gave Preston a reprieve. Preston deflected a unrelenting aerial assault throughout. Carlisle was an immense presence alongside composed McLean. Together they deflected Tranmere's searching passes and pace.

In attack, Preston flattered and were, on the whole, stifled. Proctor's physical presence unwittingly brought him to the attention of the official, receiving a yellow card for repeat-foul-play against the 20 year-old Preston forward.

Tranmere's endeavour earned Baxter's (60 mins) equalizer to Preston's Alexander's (37 mins) opening spot kick, tucked into the bottom left with Tranmere's Von Williams lunging haplessly in the other direction.

Tranmere pushed on for more glory. Preston manager Phil Brown replaced the soon-to-be-sent-off Proctor, with skilful winger Mayor. As Tranmere pushed on, Preston rebounded on the break. With Tranmere's legions marooned in Preston territory, Hume found space down the right. Hume moved onto Coutts. Coutts gained yardage, and the ball was move swiftly from right to left. Mayor, cutting in from the left wing, onto a perfect through ball, calmly slotted the ball to the left of 'keeper Von Williams.

Preston survived plenty of game attack from Tranmere. Defending well for the remaining 15 minutes to seal the 3 points.

Significantly, for Preston, a discount ticket offer had brought in 17,200, including almost 2000 Birkenhead fans. The resolute defence that confirmed the win was huge. If only to build and retain momentum for the recovery of this wounded and rehabilitated football club.

Preston boast a 6, 1 and 1 record, and sit in 5th position in England's 3rd league, 4 points behind the league leaders. Had Tranmere won today, They would now sit ahead of Preston.

The Very Best of Solex Agitator: Quent of a Woman

The Very Best of Solex Agitator: Quent of a Woman: It used to be just the preserve of universities but now it seems they are everywhere. They live in shared houses with usually 4 other women...

Icke and me - through the looking glass

David Icke speaks openly and honestly about subjects that most people are not told about. His conclusions are his own independent findings, and he does not for one moment try to impose himself on others. He writes books and performs public speaking, often for 8 or 9 continuous hours. His public speeches attract thousands of people who pay a nominal fee to listen to him. He has lots to say, and gets his message across in a most engaging style.I, for one, am completely engrossed in what he says. He delves into some fascinating subject matter, all of which makes me wonder what the hell I was studying for 10 years during my "education".David Icke has learned so many facts and seen so many people in so many situations, that his testimony cannot be ignored. Some of the subject matter is so unusual by comparison to the normal way things are explained, that David's most difficult challenge is to break through the conditioned learning his audience have been subjected to through their education, and then to put his truth into an understandable form using the English language alone. Via illustrations, eloquent wordplay, analogy and similes, David Icke achieves this.

Once portrayed as a "nutter" by media darling Terry Wogan, David emerged from the fallout from that early foray into his spiritual awakening, and now walks a path that more and more people are choosing to walk. An advocate of the simple mantra of "free will and action without imposing it on other people" Icke's rhetoric takes on those who seek to manipulate, exploit and upset the normal man and his family. This video concludes one of his marathon talks from Brixton Academy, in London, from 2010.

How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?

Prediction - Golden Boot English Third Division

Third Division Golden Boot for the Top Goalscorer 11/12

Jamie Proctor - Preston North End

Merry-go-round

It’s around this time of year, as the smell of barbecues and rain waft through the air, that that I like to cocoon myself from the world of football.

No longer a donkey lasher

It’s not that I need a break from watching the game, or indeed talking about it as my wife will testify, but it’s the media talking about it that I get sick of. Starved of the oxygen of actual football matches, they are forced to look elsewhere to fill their column inches. In other years we’d have the luxury of a World Cup or Euro Championship to keep our reporters occupied but in the odd years, we simply get an extra month and a half of feverish transfer speculation. Oh joy. It is the only time of year, apart from a crackpot four week spell after the New Year, when the term, “has long been an admirer of….” is ever used, as if we are talking about some forbidden tryst in a Jane Austen novel. “Mr D’arcy had long been an admirer of Miss Tevez but was certain that his paucity of wealth would hinder any enquiry for her hand.” That and the absence of a decent makeweight striker. Every possible outlet, from local rags to shiny multinational TV companies gets involved, fuelling fires from the Bernabeu to Burnley and all ports in between. Sky manage to combine the two and will gladly force feed you rumours from any level of professional football to blind you with a blizzard of information on an overcrowded screen on the seemingly never ending 15 minute loop of hyperbole that is Sky Sports News. A more apt moniker would be Sky Sports Speculation. They feed you scraps of information about possible transfers from the lower echelons of the league and worse, from far flung corners of Europe, involving players and teams with names that would not look out of place in a sci-fi movie. “Zaphod Beeblebrox completed his big money move to Dinamo Dagobah today.”  And you should see them when they get a story from the Premier League™. Talk of Crouch going here and Defoe going there has them in a right muddle (it has been statistically proven that 81% of transfer gossip involves Spurs). Pride of place on the screen goes to our trusty presenters who work themselves into a frenzy, usually with a roving reporter outside the stadium of one of the clubs ‘involved’ answering such gems as; “Do you think the manager of Rovers would be pleased to land Athletic’s star Brazilian striker?”“There’s every indication that he would as he has long been an admirer of the greasy get.”  It may be better if they were up front and said, “Of course he bloody would, he scored 60 goals last season, you tit.” It is this desperate need to cram ‘news’ into people’s living rooms that makes me yearn for the cricket field and anything that affords me some respite from the endless rumour-mongering is welcome. With every passing summer, I find myself more interested in those bastions of the stiff, golf (get in the hole!) and tennis (come on Tim!). All I ask our friends in the press is that they show me a picture now and again of some players holding aloft the scarf of their new paymasters and I’ll accept that there will no doubt have been some behind the scenes shenanigans about wages, transfer fees and bungs that preceded the ink being applied to the contract and the snap of the camera shutter. Until that moment, please keep it to yourselves and concentrate on facts.
by Luigi

'Tis better to have loved and lost....

We've all done it. Come on, admit it, you're among friends. A brief dalliance with an attractive European while on the continent. A holiday romance that although was fun was never destined, nor indeed meant to last, the sort of thing no right minded individual should dream of doing at home. I did it o n a weekend trip to Milan. I went to watch Inter and for the briefest of times, I supported a successful club I had nothing to do with.  I waved my scarf at the correct moments, joined in the orchestrated singing (as best as my appalling Italian would allow) and got frustrated when they missed chances. Although I enjoyed it immensely, during the whole experience I felt like a fraud. An interloper in something that was very real for those around me but was merely a bit of fun for me.  And this is how it must be, week in week out, for those who shun their local clubs and have their heads turned by sexy, silverware laden clubs from the opposite end of the country. I suspect that when a Manchester United fan from Swindon meets the real deal from Swinton, there is a tinge of embarrassment from the charlatan, a reddening of the neck that immediately precipitates a need to compose a plausible explanation for trying to muscle in on their counterpart's lover. To this end, our impostors tend to be mouthier versions of the genuine article and this is what irks me the most. They'll recount stories of being a child in 1976 and "seeing United in the Cup Final and being hooked." Must have been Jimmy Nicholl's hair that did it. And they lost that day so that proves they're a proper fan and not just a glory hunter. It's this rubbish that gets my goat. Be honest. You like them because they win stuff. And you don't like your local side because they don't and they're never on TV. In Milan, I pretty much kept my head down and observed. After all, this wasn't really my party. I wish others could do the same. Instead, they embrace everything about the club they have selected with a ludicrous fervour that makes them look a bit potty. The over excited displays of disgust when the local rivals appear is risible. How can someone from Devon or Kent who has decided to don the red of Liverpool, really understand the longstanding rivalry with Manchester? This is the essence of the problem. How can someone identify with a town or city they've never visited? To refer to another town's team as "we" is just plain daft. It's not "we", it is "they" and you should never waiver from that, because the team you say you love have absolutely nothing to do with you. It is someone else's club that you covet and the sooner you spend your time and efforts on those closer to home, the happier you'll be. Getting behind your local side makes sense, for a start you can go to games and get home for your tea afterwards. It's a great way to spend an afternoon, watching football. Far better than watching some people on TV watching football. You'll be able to see your team representing your town with your neighbours and fellow townsfolk. And it's great! Football isn't all about winning trophies, it's about camaraderie and belonging, belonging to something that's already yours. So get down to your local club and get involved in a little civic pride. You won't regret it. Luigi