Preston North End’s second trip to London this month, ended in a 1-1 draw as they came from behind to rescue a point against Millwall.
Zian Flemming gave The Lions an early lead with an unmarked header, before Brad Potts drew North End level after a fine pass from Mads Frokjaer.
Despite Preston ending the first half well, they sat back and held on for a point in the second half, with Ryan Lowe clearly very afraid of pushing for a win these days.
Flemming loves facing North End
Coming into the game, everyone knew who the danger man would be for Millwall. Zian Flemming had scored five goals in three previous games against The Lilywhites including a hat-trick a Deepdale last season.
So you’d think extra effort would be put in to ensure he didn’t score again. But just five minutes into this game Flemming was left unmarked in the box to head home the opener. Six in four games now for the Dutchman. 30% of his league goals for Millwall have come against Preston. It was yet another poor goal to concede and the Preston defence cannot be relied on for a clean sheet these days.
Strong end to first half
It took a long time for Preston to get going. They shouldn’t have come into this game with any fear. Millwall are having a poor season by their standards, and manager Joe Edwards had only won four of his 14 games in charge coming into this.
Brad Potts did equalise though with a breakaway out of nowhere. Preston suddenly countered and Frokjaer played a perfectly weighted pass through for Potts. The wing-back found the back of the net for just his second goal of the season.
Preston then looked for another goal, with Liam Miller causing all sorts of problems for Millwall, and Will Keane even taking the ball past the ‘keeper at one point, when perhaps he should have left the ball for Potts who had a clear sight of goal.
Millar cut in and had a shot saved by Matija Sarkic, and North End also came close from a corner. They didn’t want the first half to end, but at half time you would be thinking they would come back out and pick up where they left off.
A limp, lifeless second half display
Instead the second half saw Preston sit back and allow Millwall to have the ball for the majority of the half. Between the 46th and 77th minutes Preston had just 22% possession and completed 21 passes. Ryan Lowe speaking after the game said both teams were trying to win it, but he can’t truly believe that. Our most creative player Liam Millar was taken off early again. He’s clearly scared to lose football games. He’s on a horrendous run of form; five wins in 22, five losses in eight, eight losses in 13. Whichever way you look at it, it’s very poor and most managers would not survive that.
It’s incredibly boring to watch. Fair play to the fans who travelled to The Den on Saturday, because there is very little to excite a North End fan these days. Of course fans will follow through thick and thin, and we have been in much worse situations before. But there are very few positives to take from the current situation, other than we are still existing in the Championship.
Away point loses it’s worth when home form is so poor
Generally any point taken on the road is seen as a good result in the league. That is providing you can back it up with wins at home. But we have struggled at home for the past few months. Just three wins from the last 10 games at Deepdale.
We face Ipswich Town next at home, and although they have just suffered a surprise defeat to Maidstone United in the FA Cup, it will be a tough fixture for North End.
Ryan Lowe’s team seem to just head into each game hopeful of any result. Rather than trying to play on the front foot, dictate play and look to score as many as possible, it’s as if we seem happy to be given the opportunity to play these teams.
It can’t be enjoyable for the players, and as for the constant time wasting, particularly from Freddie Woodman, it has become embarrassing to watch. We’re not holding on to win a cup final, or to gain promotion. It’s a game that ultimately won’t dictate much this season. Get on with the game, try and win it, try and entertain the paying fans. They don’t want to see you deliberating over a goal kick for a minute, or tying your shoe laces, or feigning injuries.
Not the occasion that Alan Browne deserved
Alan Browne made his 400th appearance for Preston on Saturday. He’s 13th on the all time appearance list for the club, and the captain had to make do with a place on the bench for this game.
The Republic of Ireland international has spent all his professional career at Preston and is only the fourth player after Lee Cartwright, Paul McKenna and Graham Alexander to reach the 400 game mark this century.
Browne was subbed off at half time in the win over Bristol City and for the last two games has had to settle for a place on the bench. With Frokjaer playing in a number 10 role, Lowe has preferred Ben Whiteman and then a deeper option in Ali McCann and then Ryan Ledson.
Browne will probably have started well over 300 of those 400 games, and he won’t be happy being on the bench. Coming on for just 18 minutes won’t be how he envisaged reaching the 400 game mark, and Lowe’s comments after the game did not capture the size of the achievement.
“It’s a squad game, it is not just about Alan Browne is it?” said Lowe when asked about naming him on the bench. He did later go on to say it’s a fantastic achievement, but with the club captain yet to sign an extension to his contract that runs out at the end of the season, this isn’t doing anything to convince him to sign on the dotted line.
Lowe’s interviews are all over the place these days, and there’s not many fans left that believe a word he says. One thing for sure is that Alan Browne is adored by this club, and if Ryan Lowe is the reason Browne is hesitant on extending his stay, then there is a simple decision to be made by the club.
Browne has been one of our better players this season, and there isn’t another midfielder in the squad that should be playing ahead of him, never mind three.