Preston beat Huddersfield Town 3-1 on Saturday afternoon, and it’s fair to say that Paul Gallagher played a key role in the win.
North End handed a start to Gallagher in midfield, with Ben Pearson suspended and Daniel Johnson injured. The Scot scored the winner at Charlton Athletic last week, and was in great form on Saturday too.
Gallagher had a huge hand in the first goal, whipping a free kick against the post, which Jayden Stockley followed in to score from. Alan Browne got the second from a Tom Barkhuizen cross, before Gallagher wrapped up the win.
For the second week in a row, Gallagher scored from the spot, securing all three points. Gallagher’s signature run-up again paid dividends, and whilst Juninho Bacuna did pull one back for Huddersfield, Preston ran out comfortable winners.
Without Pearson and Johnson, Gallagher was expected to run the midfield. At 35, that could be difficult for some players, but not for Gallagher. Despite his advancing years, he continues to play at such a high level, even outside of set pieces and free kicks.
MORE PRESTON STORIES
Gallagher helped North End control the game, and Preston certainly lost impetus in midfield when Gallagher was substituted. Gallagher deserves huge praise for his consistently excellent displays in his mid-30’s, and Patrick Bauer is certainly impressed.
Bauer took to Twitter last night to give a special mention to Gallagher, simply saying ‘what a player’ about the midfielder before challenging anyone to name a better set piece taker.
Brilliantly, one man suggested Darnell Fisher as an answer to that question after his recent shooting attempts from long-range free kicks, which Bauer laughed off, telling the supporter to ‘behave’.