With Sunderland facing off against Preston North End on Saturday, we thought we’d take a look at five Preston players to keep an eye out for in the coming game...
FREDDIE WOODMAN: GK
Preston’s number one, he’s already pretty well known to Sunderland fans because of his eight-year stint with the Mags. Woodman actually barely featured for Newcastle, being sent out on loan six times during his time there to an array of sides in both Scotland and England: Hartlepool, Crawley, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Swansea and Bournemouth. He finally settled last year at Deepdale after making a permanent transfer to the Lilywhites. He’s shown himself to be an effective shot stopper in the Championship, keeping an impressive 17 clean sheets during last season’s campaign. He performed admirably last season against Sunderland, keeping a clean sheet at the SoL as well as pulling off some good saves during the final game of the regular season, despite his side conceding three.
PATRICK BAUER: CB
Helping out Woodman in the defence is German centre-back Patrick Bauer. He began his senior career in his home country with Stuttgart. He was loaned out to C.S. Maritimo and would make the move permanent in the following season, spending another two years in Portugal. Bauer later moved to England with Charlton Athletic, turning out for them for four seasons. Coincidentally, his final ever appearance for Charlton would be against Sunderland in that now infamous play-off final. In fact he was the man who scored in the 94th minute to ensure his side’s promotion at the expense of Sunderland. So there’s history behind Bauer and SAFC already. The defender moved to Preston in the summer following Charlton’s promotion and is now in his fifth season with the club. The 30 year old only managed six Championship appearances last campaign so it’s doubtful if he’ll feature on Saturday, but he did start against us for last season’s away clash.
BRAD POTTS: RB
One of Preston’s joint-top goalscorers last season, out of the players who haven’t departed the club this summer is versatile midfielder/defender Brad Potts. He netted five in all competitions for Preston last season. He began is senior career with Carlisle, then moved to Blackpool where he was relegated but then immediately won promotion back into League One. He made the move to Barnsley following that where he was once again immediately relegated and then promoted (this time automatically) this time in and out of the Championship with Barnsley - although he did leave midway through the season, but I’ll count it anyway. This is his sixth season at Preston.
WILL KEANE: ST
A look at one of the new arrivals at Deepdale this summer now and it’s Republic of Ireland international forward Will Keane (4 caps and no goals so far). The 30 year old transferred from Wigan Athletic following their relegation and, despite their generally awful season, he managed 12 goals for them all in the Championship. A product of the Manchester United academy, he began his career with a variety of loan spells. To Wigan, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston, so he must have been popular as he’s since returned to two of those clubs. He’d make a permanent move to Hull City and that included a loan spell to Ipswich Town, which was eventually made permanent. He spent three seasons at Wigan after this, where he won a League One title. Keane scored last week on his debut against Bristol City, so he’s definitely going to be a threat we need to watch out for.
BEN WOODBURN: AM
To round of this list is Welsh international (11 caps and two goals) Ben Woodburn. Best known for his early promise and six year stint with Liverpool, the 23 year old hasn’t fully lived up to the media hype that surrounded him. He’s still young though so there’s always time. This is only his second permanent spell with any club after Liverpool after loan spells with Sheffield United, Oxford United, Blackpool and Hearts. The primarily attacking midfielder managed a goal and two assists for Preston in last year’s Championship, but can be really dangerous on his day.
