Preston North End v Blackpool: fan cheering on Blackpool FC from his home 13,000 miles away in New Zealand and hoping to get one over on his PNE-supporting cousin

Dave Armistead the Blackpool fan emigrated to New Zealand as a youngster in the 1970s. He returns regularly and always makes a point of catching a Seasiders game on his trips. Son Braedyn, who was born in New Zealand and is also a Blackpool fan, who has joined his dad at a couple of matches and has never seen the team lose live.

Dave Armistead, the North End fan, lives in Preston and despite the major difference in their football tastes, the pair always look forward to failure catch-ups when his namesake is back in the UK. ‘New Zealand Dave’ and Braedyn are based in Whangerei, North Island, about two hours’ drive north of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, and are looking forward to cheering for Pool this weekend on TV, with kick-ff just after midnight NZ time.

"It’s better for us than most kick-offs,” said Dave. "Generally during the season, we’re up at 4am Sunday mornings. Midweek games are better as usually on at 8.45am. We never lose the passion, and we all hate PNE, always have and always will.

"But at the end of the day it's a game of football and regardless of the result we have all got to go to work on a Monday. My cousin Dave back in Preston is six months younger and sadly is a PNE fan, but it’s always good to see him when I’m back in the UK. We have a beer, dinner and a good chat – but football is usually off the menu.”

Dave in New Zealand has been a Seasiders supporter since he was taken to his first game as a five-year-old by his grandparents but he actually grew up in an area which is pretty much split between Blackpool and PNE fans – Treales and Wesham in rural Fylde – and he attended Carr Hill High School at Kirkham. He and Braedyn have an impressive collection of Pool replica shirts, past and present, which they are proud to sport around Whangerei and wil be certainly be wearing for the big derby game.