Who will progress? Coventry City vs Preston North End preview

The Northern Section semi-final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy between Coventry City and Preston North End is due to take place this evening, so let's take a brief look at what we can expect.

First up the home side. Coventry are coming into the fixture off the back off a very impressive December, winning 5 of their 6 league games and drawing the other, which just so happens to be tonight's opponents; Preston.

Coventry also pulled off what some would see as a shock result last month when they knocked Sheffield United out of this competition 4-1 on penalties, and despite conceding in all 7 games throughout the month, they have not struggled to hit the net themselves with 19 goals in the same duration.

However, life is not all rosy at the Ricoh Arena. Their 3-0 spanking away at Tottenham was their second consecutive defeat, with a narrow 1-0 loss to Shrewsbury 4 days earlier leaving them 12th in the League.

So how are their upcoming opponents doing? Well, I will tell you.

Preston began December with a 2-0 victory at home to Gillingham, before going down to a 3-1 defeat against Crewe a week later. 4 draws followed before a 3-0 tonking by Doncaster concluded the year in miserable fashion. They did bounce back however, a 1-0 away win at the league's bottom side Hartlepool, and although it was nothing to shout about, it gave them the valuable 3 points and a bit of confidence going into their FA Cup 3rd round game against Millwall, which they eventually lost 1-0.

Good news for Preston fans is that Joe Garner is available to make his debut after was snapped up just a day after he left Watford by mutual consent.

Coventry will be out David McGoldrick after he returned to Nottingham Forest after his stint at the club and has been shipped to Ipswich, but they have been given the green light to hand Blair Adams a starting role in the clash as his loan spell from Sunderland was extended.

Anything can happen in these games, but if I was a betting man, and I am, I would have a few pennies on a Coventry win, which I do.

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