Preston North End were cruelly denied any points as two very late Cardiff City goals gave The Bluebirds a 2-1 win at Deepdale.
Milutin Osmajic had given Preston the lead early in the second half with a lovely solo goal before an idiotic second yellow from the appalling Robbie Brady allowed Cardiff to put pressure on for the remainder of the game.
It looked like The Lilywhites would hold on for three points. One point would have been frustrating but to come away with nothing was devastating.
Brady is a liability and shouldn’t be in the team
With Liam Millar having been away last week with international duty in Canada and Jamaica it was always likely he would be on the bench. That meant Robbie Brady came in who doesn’t give us anywhere near the standard Millar produces.
Brady picked up a yellow for dissent after and a confrontation between Ched Evans and Jamilu Collins. It was a needless challenge from Evans that started that and led to an unfortunate series of events.
Just after we scored Brady took a corner that was headed back out to him. He then scuffed a pass into the box and Cardiff went onto the counter attack.
He then needlessly took out a player which led to his second yellow. All our momentum from the goal was now gone and ultimately it led to our defeat.
Brady is 31, and one of the more experienced players in the squad. You’d be disappointed if Kian Best; an 18-year-old did what he did today.
Brady should know better. He’s showed a complete lack of professionalism and he doesn’t offer the team enough to be anywhere near the squad. He makes countless mistakes and fouls and should be sold in January.
Maybe the League of Ireland is more his level now.
One positive to take is that he won’t be available for the game against Middlesbrough on Tuesday.
A different approach after the red?
Whenever you go down to 10 men you know you’re going to be up against it. Especially when you’re defending a lead. Some may be frustrated at us sitting back but there’s not too much else you can do in that situation. It’s natural to be more defensive. Cardiff will always have an extra man spare to pass to with that advantage and they didn’t really threaten until the very end.
I thought we contained them well for over 40 minutes. Osmajic led the line well and continued to press and Alan Browne was superb as well with some driving runs.
There were some openings for us to try and get a second goal but you can never commit too many men forward and leave yourself vulnerable in defence.
We were four minutes away from a great win that would have seen us five points ahead of seventh place. The finger can’t be pointed at anyone else apart from Brady.
A polar opposite feeling compared to the last match we played. Brought back down to earth after being on a high from the Blackburn Rovers win. We’re still in a good position though and need to aim for at least four points from the next two games.
Milutin continues good Town End record
Osmajic scored his fourth goal for the club and all have come in front of the Town End at Deepdale. All have also been thunderous finishes with Saturday’s created all by himself.
After pressuring a defender and blocking a clearance on the halfway line he galloped down the right wing before bringing the ball inside and smashing it past Alex Runarsson.
A great goal and his overall display deserved more than to be on the losing side.