“The players were really taut and tense.

“Everyone was telling us that this was a match we could not afford to lose.

“The papers, the television and the radio screamed it at us,

“That’s why I took the lads away to Lilleshall during the week. But it was impossible to escape the tension altogether.

“Preston are also trying to avoid relegation and, in the circumstances, I was very pleased with our performance - especially the effort the players put into the game.

“We shall be looking for two points every time [in the remaining games].

‘It was a tragedy [Dave Rudge suffering a broken leg during the match. He was playing extremely well.

“He’s just the sort of player we need in our battle against relegation - a worker and a fighter.

“It’s a tremendous set back but we shallots have to try and overcome it.

“He’s a brave lad and he’ll be back.”

Vic Crowe.


“It was terrible to look at. You could see instantly that Dave had a very bad break.”

Lew Chatterley.