February 1 2006

Iain Dowie

Something had to give as two unbeaten runs met head to head at Deepdale on Tuesday night, by Simon Pophale.

Sadly it was Prestons that remained intact as they won 2-0. The importance of this match could not be understated, it was 5th against 6th and the winner could carry that momentum onto February.

Yet from the very first moment the whistle blew, Preston took the game to us and time after time, they attacked us and for the first 15 minutes, we failed to get out of our own half.

Preston fielded new signing Brett Omerod and had David Nugent back in the side, and it was Nugent that had the games first chance – outmuscling Mark Hudson and with only Kiraly to beat, found the Hungarian in good form as he was denied on 9 minutes.

But it was not going to take long and we became the authors of our own downfall, as on 14 minutes Mikele Legiertwood and Hudson dithered on the ball and with neither of them taking responsibility, Omerod stole the ball and finished neatl y past Kiraly to put Preston ahead.

It took us fully 25 minutes to start putting Preston under any pressure and Emmerson Boyce had the first chance, linking with AJ but his shot ended up being wayward. On the half hour we had our best chance as following a foul on AJ.

A Micheal Hughes free kick swung in from the right found Clinton Morrison with only Nash to beat from about 5 yards, he missed.

The match then degenerated into a roughhouse, dirty spectacle as Preston players under fair challenges went down and stayed down, while David Nugent kicked out at Mark Hudson, which looked like a red card offence as it was totally premeditated, yet only a yellow forthcame.

Morrison was then booked as the half ended as a mini-scuffle erupted around the former Birmingham striker.

The 2nd half offered no further solace to us either, as within 4 minutes Preston had doubled their advantage with a Brian O’Neill header from close range following a corner. If at 1-0 the match looked salvageable, at 2-0 it was lost.

Most of the half was spent sending long balls to AJ who, battling against Mawene and Claude Davis, got no change out of them all night. He wasn’t helped as at times, the formation did not work as his striker partner was getting dragged into midfield as the midfield itself was pushed too far back. Soares was defending more than attacking and there was no link to the forward line.

Dowie made changes by bringing on Freedman, Macken and Marco Reich but there was little effect in the changes. We won a succession of corners but each time, Preston had numbers in defence and we were unable to break them down.

As the match drew to a close, AJ did finally get away from Mawene and rounded Nash, but after being driven wide, managed to turn and send a low cross into the box which found … no-one.

At the final whistle the only positive from the night was the return of Marco Reich from injury. Preston were good value for their win, but we just did not turn up on the night.