Preston North End 0 - West Bromwich Albion 2

Submit your ratings for this game by clicking here:

Ratings submitted so far: 8

Brendan Clegg:

Very quick thoughts as I write this from a hotel room ahead of the Manchester marathon tomorrow - a result that will make me absolutely float around the course!

It’s just a brilliant win. Mozza has galvanised a threadbare squad and got them to churn out results through running harder than anyone else, fighting for their lives, brilliant coaching from Matt Gill and finding solutions to our selection problems. Apart from under Mozza himself… I can’t recall us turning up and winning a big game that we needed to like this in 7 or 8 years… maybe longer.

No qualms with the 11 and we were brilliant from the off. Ferocious… winning everything… it was like watching the last 3 games of Megson’s first season when he did an equal salvage job.

Maja’s opener came through a combination of that aggression but then, at long last, style and composure from Price and Heggebø who did brillianty to dribble and play through Preston before he slotted home.

We mixed it up and nearly added a couple more before the break but for luck and a bit of quality - Maja’s volley lob coming closest.

We forced Preston to change and when they did we just about held on.

They had their best spell after the break but we weathered it. I felt we needed Dike 10 minutes sooner as our forwards and Price couldn’t hold the ball up and Mowatt was tiring as we kept giving it away but in fairness we sorted it out before the changes.

We were back on top before Dike came on and scored an instinctive and difficult finish after Molumby did his best Tom Fellows impression. If ever a player deserved or needed a goal it was Dike after all he’s been through - and he has actually looked better with game time recently.

That sealed it although Preston missed a couple of massive chances in the final 15 - as had Millwall, which just serves as a reminder how marginal the game can be.

The scenes at the end were joyous - everyone deserved the praise and accolades after a difficult week. We’re not done by a long way and Tuesday will be super tough for players who’ve had so many minutes, but they’ve dragged us into a position that looked utterly implausible after Oxford.

• O’Leary - 7 A bit flappy on crosses but there when we need him and kicking was fine.
• Imray - 7 Another solid and reliable showing
• Phillips - 7 Stood up to it all again.
• Campbell - 7 showed pace when we needed it, drove us forward
• Styles - 7 Loads of energy, always tries to keep the ball
• Molumby - 7 played it smart; narrow defensively but gave us an option wide, ran and battled hard, top assist
• Diakite - 7 Absolutely ran the show in there
• Mowatt - 7 Good passing at a higher tempo and aggressive. Did look noticeably less athletic across the ground than Molumby or Diakite
• Price - 7 I’ve given him stick all season for his quality but the hard running was there, he made a goal, was a little wasteful too frequently still but miles better
• Maja - 7 Good goal, too in and out for me but a threat in the box
• Heggebø- 6 good for the opener and some decent touches but some mistakes/poor decisions too

• Dike - 7 Took the roof off the stand with that goal, put himself about
• Grant - 6 Very neat and sensible
• Bostock wasn’t really on long enough

Matt Gill must be some coach. Boing boinging over the finish line tomorrow will be easier now!