Preston North End made it five league games unbeaten on Saturday afternoon, beating Birmingham City 1-0.
After beating Brentford 2-0 at Deepdale last weekend, North End were back on the road on Saturday, heading down to St Andrews to take on Pep Clotet’s Blues.
Much like Preston, Birmingham had enjoyed a decent start to the season, boasting an unbeaten home record. That record has now gone though, with Preston claiming a 1-0 win.
Paul Gallagher’s first half free kick hit the post, and Seani Maguire was alive to the rebound, sliding North End in front from close range. With some stout defending from Patrick Bauer and Ben Davies once again, as well as some of the usual Preston, erm… ‘antics’, Maguire’s goal was enough for all three points.
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North End sit third in the Championship table, just a point off top spot. The attention will quickly turn to Tuesday’s big game against Manchester City, but Saturday’s win will have meant a lot to Declan Rudd.
The North End stopper endured a dismal trip to Birmingham last season. Not only did Preston lose 3-0 that day, but Rudd committed one of the most comical errors ever seen, somehow letting a Maikel Kieftenbeld pass trickle through his legs from 30 yards.
Rudd has never really managed to live that moment down, but took to Instagram late last night to post a photo of himself smothering the ball alongside the caption ‘Better than last time’, a nod to that error last season.
Rudd can at least say he’s exorcised some demons from his last trip to St. Andrews, and can boast two clean sheets in a row too.