The history of Preston North End v Brighton & Hove Albion

Preston North End hold a special place in the history of Brighton & Hove Albion as the first top flight club that the Seagulls ever eliminated from the FA Cup – those heady days of 1908 being the highlight of a fixture that has otherwise brought little but misery.

The Albion’s record reads seven wins from 33 matches. PNE in contrast have won 13 and there have been 13 draws. Brighton have never won a game at Deepdale in 16 attempts.

And in their past 16 matches across all competitions with Preston, Brighton have failed to score in 12 of them. How about that for a ghastly past?

It has not always been this way. Let’s go back to Saturday 11th January 1908, when the famous PNE arrived at the Goldstone Ground in the first round of the FA Cup.

The Albion were struggling towards the bottom of Southern League Division One and not many people were giving Frank Scott-Walford and his players a chance.

It was something of a surprise then when the clash at the Goldstone ended in a 1-1 draw with Jack Hall scoring. A midweek replay at Deepdale five days later was then abandoned with eight minutes of extra time remaining due to bad light.

Having seen 112 minutes completed, the scoreline at the time of the abandonment – another 1-1 – was allowed to stand. Brighton’s goal came from the wonderfully named Dick Joynes.

A second replay was convened for Monday 20th January at the neutral venue of Stamford Bridge. It was at the home of Chelsea where Brighton pulled off the first giant killing in the club’s history as Dick Wombwell (we are not making these names up) scored the only goal of the game in a famous 1-0 win over Preston. The players were swamped by huge crowds upon their return to Brighton Station from London that evening.

Brighton went onto draw 1-1 at Anfield in the next round, bringing the mighty Liverpool back to Hove for a replay. The Albion eventually bowed out of the competition in a 3-0 defeat to the Reds, but so impressive had their cup feats been that Scott-Walford was headhunted by The Leeds City – the forerunner to The Leeds United – a few months later. Shades of Ben White.

Preston and Brighton did not meet again for over 50 years until the 1959-60 FA Cup brought them together in the fifth round of the competition. PNE won 2-1 at Deepdale with Glen Wilson’s 90th minute penalty proving nothing more than a consolation.

The sides’ first league encounters came in the second tier in the 1961-62 season. It was not until the 1970s that Brighton and Preston became regular opponents with the start of the decade being marked by heavy losses for the Seagulls.

There was a 4-0 reversal at Deepdale in November 1972, the biggest defeat the Albion suffered in their club-record 12 game losing streak. PNE won by the same scoreline at the Goldstone two years later in October 1974 under the player-management of a certain Bobby Charlton.

The Albion’s best sequence of results came against Preston in the late 1970s as Alan Mullery led Brighton on their rise through the divisions, including a 5-1 Goldstone victory in the history making promotion winning 1978-79 campaign.

Peter Ward loved a goal against Preston and he was on target that day along with Gerry Ryan, Paul Clark and two own goals, sadly not both scored by the PNE goalkeeper, ala David Stockdale at Norwich City.

It was after that 5-1 success that the problems really began for Brighton against PNE. Only five Seagulls players have scored against Preston in the intervening 41 years – Paul Moulden twice in 1992; Simon Rodger and Steve Sidwell in 2002; Glenn Murray and Sam Baldock in 2016.

A Marlon Broomes own goal at Withdean Stadium on Saturday 28th August 2004 is responsible for Brighton’s only three points since Moulden’s brace on September 5th 1992.

Not even the FA Cup could provide any respite, Will Packham having an interesting night when deputising for the injured Michel Kuipers when PNE came to Withdean in the third round on January 15th 2002 by letting a simple shot slip through his hands on his home debut.

Packham is in good company when it comes to howlers against PNE. In fact, you could argue that Brighton & Hove Albion’s history against Preston is one big howler. Time to put that right?