Preston North End claimed yet another away win on Wednesday night, beating Reading 3-0 at the Madejski Stadium.
Scott Sinclair, Emil Riis and Brad Potts were all on the scoresheet in Berkshire, with North End thrashing the league leaders in their own back yard.
The goalscorers get much of the praise, and Ryan Ledson has also been hailed for his performance, but Darnell Fisher deserves it too.
The right back was passed fit after a knock at the weekend, and turned in a superb performance against his hometown club.
SAKA, ANTONY AND 10 PREMIER LEAGUE STARS HEADING TO THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP
Fisher made three tackles, three clearances and blocked one shot in a strong defensive showing against Sone Aluko, who had little impact outside of one shot at Declan Rudd where he had switched sides.
MORE PRESTON STORIES
The 26-year-old makes such a huge difference when in the side. This was illustrated by Oli over at From The Finney earlier this week, as he pointed out the point differentials when Fisher is in or out of the side.
Fisher is dynamic on the ball, able to carry the ball forward and support the attack, whilst he is a more progressive passer than Joe Rafferty.
The former Celtic man gets Preston moving forward down the right flank, and whilst Rafferty has his attributes too, he just isn’t nearly as dynamic on the ball as Fisher, who has also mastered the art of winning free kicks cleverly.
The problem for Preston is that Fisher is out of contract at the end of the season, and we’ve heard next to nothing about him being in talks over an extension.
A bargain signing from Rotherham United in 2017, Fisher has been one of Alex Neil’s leading performers over the last three years, and it’s time to re-assess ‘the big four’.
That’s what Ben Davies, Alan Browne, Daniel Johnson and Ben Pearson have been called, as they are all out of contract at the end of the season, and are seen as the key priorities by supporters.
Now though, it’s time to add Fisher into that conversation. He is consistently excellent under Neil, offers Preston so much going forward and would be so difficult to replace.
Forget ‘the big four’; Fisher has made it ‘the big five’ as Preston weigh up their contract situations.