Preston North End picked up a much needed win on Boxing Day as they triumphed 2-1 over Leeds United thanks to yet another outstanding display from Liam Millar.
After Preston’s poor run of form, and Leeds beating Ipswich Town 4-0 over the weekend, you could have forgiven many North End fans for wanting to spend their Boxing Day’s elsewhere; and it looked like some did despite the game being announced as a sell out.
But those inside Deepdale were treated to a memorable game, which had everything in the second half.
A positive start set the tone
Too often we give teams too much respect, and end up sitting back and letting the opposition have the lions share of possession. If we had let Leeds do that then it would have been a long day. But we started positively, and had fire in our bellies. We were getting stuck in and winning the 50-50 battles.
Leeds didn’t look like they were expecting the fight from Preston and The Lilywhites were winning the second balls and looking to cause the Yorkshire side some problems.
There weren’t many chances in the first half, but you felt that there was a lot more to come in the second. Ryan Lowe commented that the fans roared the team off at the end of the first half, encouraged at what they had seen and he used that as his teamtalk.
Meslier misunderstands ‘Boxing Day’
The Leeds team is full of talented players, many with Premier League experience, but one of those completely lost his head eight minutes into the second half. After claiming a cross, Illan Meslier seemed to take offence at being challenged for the ball by Ben Whiteman. He shoved him, and tried to catch him with his elbow before squaring up to him.
Milutin Osmajic came flying in to support his teammate, and pushed Meslier out the way. But the French keeper responded by pushing the Montenegrin striker in the face. Osmajic made the most of it, but luckily the referee was two yards away and didn’t hesitate in reaching into his pocket and pulling out the red card.
Meslier could have no complaints and he let his team down, being all too easily wound up by the Preston players. A memorable 150th appearance for the club but for all the wrong reasons.
Browne loves a Boxing Day goal
Preston had to make the most of Leeds going down to 10 men, and they did just that. Liam Millar whipped in a great ball to find Alan Browne who had made a lovely run into the box, and his header gave substitute goalkeeper Karl Darlow no chance.
The captain continued his good run of form, and with his fourth goal in ten games he has now doubled his tally from last season. Since scoring 12 goals in the 2018/19 season, Browne has failed to get past that four goal mark, but he’s on track to do so now.
Browne scored a last minute winner behind closed doors on Boxing Day in 2020 in a 1-0 win at Derby County. He was also on the scoresheet in 2019 at Elland Road against Leeds, although on that day we had to settle for a draw.
He’s in a real rich vein of form at the moment, and it’s great to see the captain enjoying his football.
Penalty after James stepped on McCann
It looked like Browne’s goal would give us the win, but Leeds had strength in depth and could bring on the likes of Patrick Bamford and Wilfried Gnonto. They are trying to keep up with front runners Leicester City and Ipswich Town and wouldn’t have been expecting a loss here.
Dan James was winning free-kicks left right and centre. Seemingly made of feathers he fell down every time there was a gust of wind, and it was a little surprise when the referee awarded them a penalty when James chose to give the pitch one last cuddle.
It was a soft penalty when looking back at the replay as it was actually James who stood on McCann’s foot. Captain Pascal Struijk stepped up to bring Leeds level and at that point Preston fans would have been recollecting other collapses this season. Luckily our Canadian maestro had other ideas.
Sign that man up!
There’s no doubting who the star man in this team is now. Liam Millar didn’t take long to announce himself to the Preston fans when he scored one and made another on his debut against Plymouth Argyle. Despite a couple of fitness issues since then, he’s shown that he can be the player to deliver something out of nothing.
Especially against a side when chances were going to be at a premium, it was key that we had to get the ball to Millar and let him do his thing.
He threatened a few times in the first half, and it was an uncomfortable afternoon for 17-year-old Archie Gray who was up against him in an unfamiliar position of right-back.
Millar offers us so much. He can go down the left and get to the byline before getting the ball in, or he can cut in a deliver fine crosses or go for goal himself.
He cut back onto his right foot for his cross into Alan Browne, and the goal he scored himself was something else. After Andrew Hughes chipped a ball forward for him into the corner, it seemed difficult for him to manoeuvre into much space.
But his trickery makes it so hard to keep up with him, and before you knew it he was in the box shaping up to shoot. He curled it into the top corner out of the reach of Darlow, to send the Preston fans into euphoria.
With Millar only being on loan, you’d think it would be a priority in January to sign him on a permanent deal. Performances like this are only going to raise the awareness of him, and others may want to strike a deal for the winger currently on loan from Swiss side FC Basel.
It has shades of Ross Wallace who shone on loan from Sunderland in 2008/09 before signing a permanent deal in the January transfer window. Millar also gives us the spark that a certain Aiden McGeady once gave us. Unfortunately we were unable to land him on a long-term basis.
Browne spoke about the Canadian’s importance to the side, and the match winner is clearly enjoying his time at Preston. If there is any Christmas wishes left to spare for North End fans, there’s only one thing that should be on their list.
On Tuesday Preston showed that when they start the game well, the fans are behind them, and they take the game to the opposition and have attacking intent, results will come. More of that on Friday please.