Preston North End continued their good away form with a 2-1 win over Rotherham United. Tom Cannon and Ched Evans were on the scoresheet again, and could have doubled their tallies on the night.
Cannon and Evans cement places
With the January additions of Tom Cannon and Liam Delap, Preston found themselves with four fit strikers to choose from. Troy Parrott has returned from a long-term injury but apart from that penalty against Luton Town he still hasn’t found his scoring touch.
Cannon was clearly liked by the management team as even before he got his first goal he was given seven straight starts. He’s now got three goals in his last five games, and his game has adapted well to the Championship.
Cannon and Ched Evans linked up wonderfully on Tuesday night against The Millers. Ched’s hold up play allowed Cannon to find space, and they were causing problems for the defence all night.
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The assist for Evans’ goal came from Cannon and at the start of the second half both players came close to finding their second goal of the game. You’d think this would be the first choice partnership for the rest of the season now if they stay fit.
‘As good as any team we’ve seen’
Those were the words from the commentary team on Rotherham United’s ifollow coverage. They felt Preston had been the best side to visit the New York stadium this season.
This came after The Lilywhites particularly strong start to the second half which saw Cannon hit the crossbar as well as a plethora of other chances.
In fact they reserved special praise for a number of players including Cannon, Bambo Diaby and Alan Browne.
We’re not accustomed to seeing Preston attack again and again in games. Especially when we are already winning. But Ryan Lowe’s side could smell blood on Tuesday and were clearly enjoying themselves.
With not much to play for now, they have a sense of freedom so don’t have to overthink every decision which can allow them to expresses themselves a bit more.
A strong bench
For the first time in a while it felt like we had a really strong bench to call upon. First of all, the likes of Patrick Bauer, Liam Lindsay and Ben Woodburn weren’t even in the matchday 18, showing the strength in depth, not too mention the long-term absentees.
During the game we were able to call upon Troy Parrott, Liam Delap, Alvaro Fernandez, Ryan Ledson and Josh Onomah. That’s three players contracted to Premier League clubs, another that was until January, and an experienced player at this level in Ledson.
There was still Andrew Hughes left on the bench as well who I would consider one of our better defenders.
Organised, committed, determined
Three words to typify every player in a yellow shirt on Tuesday. Whilst we should have seen the game off in the second half, the defending and counter attacking was great.
We were solid at the back mainly thanks to Bambo Diaby yet again. The goal conceded from the corner was poor but aside from that Rotherham didn’t get a sniff. The usually lively Jordan Hugill was kept fairly quiet.
Freddie Woodman was brave coming for balls into the box despite still sporting his bruises and wounds from Saturday.
The midfield were cutting out passes and staying tight to the opposition players. We may not have the most talented players in the league but you can’t knock their organisation and fight of late.
Even though The Millers were chasing the game and throwing everything at us in the last 10 minutes you felt confident Preston would deal with it.
They did and that’s now seven unbeaten since the awful day at Burnley in February. It’s also our first back-to-back wins in the league since the start of November.