Preston’s 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers featured an impressive second half comeback, securing second place for North End.
Alex Neil saw his side roar back from 2-0 down to claim all three points, with Tom Barkhuizen hitting a superb winner. What made the win even more impressive was that it came without Ben Davies.
Patrick Bauer is a superb centre back, but Davies is the key man in Preston’s back four. He’s calm, composed, reads the game well and starts attacks with his ability to play out from the back. All those facets were sorely missed in the first half, with Andrew Hughes unable to really replace him.
Davies missed the game having taken a kick against Leeds United last week, failing a fitness test before the game. That meant Hughes came into defence, but Davies being ruled out also impacted Connor Ripley.
Fans will have noticed that Ripley wasn’t on the bench on Saturday. The 26-year-old has been backup to Declan Rudd this season, almost always sitting on the bench in case of emergency.
Yet on Saturday, Ripley was curiously left out. He had been on the bench against Leeds in midweek, but wasn’t even in the squad against Blackburn. Mathew Hudson took his spot, but it wasn’t an injury keeping Ripley out.
EFL rules state that all clubs must have at least one ‘club developed player’ in their matchday squad. Davies usually fills that quota given that he barely misses a game, but his absence on Saturday left Preston to make a change.
Ripley had to be sacrificed in favour of homegrown stopper Hudson, with the other usual candidate Josh Earl currently out on loan at Bolton Wanderers.
It made more sense to change the backup goalkeeper than go with a youth team outfield player, with a change of goalkeeper unlikely.
The situation didn’t impact the game in the end, but shows that North End could do with a couple more players coming through the ranks even just for those quota reasons, especially with Davies attracting interest from elsewhere.