BLACK Saturday - that was the unwanted headline of the local newspaper after Preston North End's final home game of the 1937/38 season.

The 1-3 defeat inflicted upon the Lilywhites by fellow championship contenders Arsenal not only meant that the dream of doing the elusive league and cup double was, once again, virtually ended. But the manner in which the defeat occurred was very cruel.

After 35 minutes of this vital fixture, one of the main defensive cogs, Jimmy Milne, fell over with apparently no one near him.

First thoughts were that he had overstretched and strained something or other.

The Gunners had been booed almost continuously but, to be fair, Milne's injury was an accident, in fact it turned out that he had broken his collar bone and was obviously going to miss the following Saturday's FA Cup final against Huddersfield Town.

As substitutes were a good 30 years away, PNE took on the Arsenal with 10 men, but to no avail.

Arsenal held a tremendous advantage in height and weight and relied upon long-ball tactics.

They were clever in upsetting the flow of the game as they conceded many niggling fouls, petty offences which brought about a lot of booing.

In theory, their strategy was good planning: stop moves being built up and try to snatch something on the break, which they did successfully on the day, in front of Deepdale's record gate of 42,684.

Was the well known adage "Lucky Arsenal" given to them on this afternoon?

North End on that black Saturday did not carry the ammunition necessary to break down the Gunners' defence.

Although there were many long faces after this game, Wembley fever had already hit the proud town and after a few pick-me-up pints the following Saturdays FA Cup final showdown was on the fans' minds whether they had been lucky to purchase a sacred ticket or not.

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