28-04-2018, 22:13
Sheffield United 0 Preston North End 1 Browne
Sheffield United: Blackman, O'Connell, Stearman (Leonard 80), Basham, Freeman (Baldock 76), Fleck, Evans (Brooks 66), Duffy, Stevens, Clarke, Sharp. Subs (not used): Lundstram, Donaldson, Lafferty, Moore.
PNE: Rudd, Fisher, Huntington, Davies, Cunningham, Pearson, Browne, Johnson (Clarke 67), Harrop (Gallagher 67) Robinson, Maguire (Barkhuizen 58). Subs (not used): Moult, Earl, Bodin, Maxwell.
Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight)
Attendance: 28,569 (1,610 PNE)
Apparently time wasted, play acted, what's commonly known in the trade as professional, three points at Bramall Lane rare as rocking horse droppings will take it and go to the last game still in with a chance and a quirk of fixtures the two vying for the lat play off spot play two teams fighting against the drop.
If Deepdale isn't rocking next Sunday then it never will be. Going for a Burton next Sunday, whilst Rams play Barnsley, strange thing is would kind of like Burton to stay up but that changes next week.
Manager Credits ‘Resilient’ Victory
2 Hours ago
@pnefc
Despite admitting North End weren’t at their best this afternoon, manager Alex Neil praised his side for finding a way to win at Bramall Lane.
Alan Browne’s effort just before the hour mark saw the Lilywhites to a hard earned victory away at Sheffield United, and having put in a performance and not got a result several times this season, the gaffer felt his side showed real resilience today.
“That’s probably the poorest performance we’ve put in and managed to win this season,” conceded Alex, “But I don’t want to take anything away from the lads.
“There’s different types of winning games and the simple fact is at the end of the game, you’d rather have won than played well and lost.
“We’ve had a lot of games this season where we’ve played particularly well but we’ve not got the points but we’ve showed a different side to ourselves today, we were resilient, we’ve dug in and defended well and when a chance came along we took it.
“It’s not a performance which I’ll look back on, but what it is, is a means to and end; we’ve got the three points, we’ll discard the performance and think about getting ready for next week.”
Today’s results means North End can get ready for next Sunday with it all to play with just two points separating them from the Play-Offs at the time of writing with one game to play, and the manager reiterated his and his team’s focus will be on themselves come next weekend at Deepdale against Burton Albion.
“If I’m being honest I didn’t have a ‘Scooby’ what was going on at the other grounds,” continued Alex. “I was just focused on trying to see a hard graft 20 minutes out because at that stage, we didn’t have possession of the ball, we were pinned back in and had to defend for our lives and we did that.
"The most important thing for us which I’ve said in the last few weeks, we need to take care of our own games because if we don’t, the rest doesn’t matter. We’ve done that and took it to the last game and now hopefully it will be an exciting end to the season for us.
“The pressure now goes to the other teams. They’re going to have to win their game, and we just need to take care of our game and if we don’t, we don’t deserve to be in the Play-Offs, if we do, then you never know what’s going to happen.”
Browne’s goal on 57 minutes came at a crucial time for Alex Neil’s side, with Sheffield United looking at making their home advantage count.
On the only goal of the game, Alex added: “Josh Harrop cuts in on his right foot and has a good shot and then Alan gets on the end of it to put it in the net.
“It was a strange game - very rarely do we get dominated but I didn’t think we dominated the game by any means today, but I’m pleased that we won it - it’s certainly not going to be one that we’ll remember for very long. We started brightly but then we were poor up until half-time and I said to them, nobody remembers the first half, particularly if it’s 0-0 what they remember is who wins the game and the boys did what they needed to do and win the game which is the most important thing.”
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder:
"We've come a very long way in a short space of time and for us to take it to the 45th game - I don't think anybody would've expected that.
"Ultimately we're disappointed today that we didn't finish off our home campaign which, I believe, has been very very positive.
"We've had some great results, and possibly more performances than results."
He did give us praise as well
Sheffield United: Blackman, O'Connell, Stearman (Leonard 80), Basham, Freeman (Baldock 76), Fleck, Evans (Brooks 66), Duffy, Stevens, Clarke, Sharp. Subs (not used): Lundstram, Donaldson, Lafferty, Moore.
PNE: Rudd, Fisher, Huntington, Davies, Cunningham, Pearson, Browne, Johnson (Clarke 67), Harrop (Gallagher 67) Robinson, Maguire (Barkhuizen 58). Subs (not used): Moult, Earl, Bodin, Maxwell.
Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight)
Attendance: 28,569 (1,610 PNE)
Apparently time wasted, play acted, what's commonly known in the trade as professional, three points at Bramall Lane rare as rocking horse droppings will take it and go to the last game still in with a chance and a quirk of fixtures the two vying for the lat play off spot play two teams fighting against the drop.
If Deepdale isn't rocking next Sunday then it never will be. Going for a Burton next Sunday, whilst Rams play Barnsley, strange thing is would kind of like Burton to stay up but that changes next week.
Manager Credits ‘Resilient’ Victory
2 Hours ago
@pnefc
Despite admitting North End weren’t at their best this afternoon, manager Alex Neil praised his side for finding a way to win at Bramall Lane.
Alan Browne’s effort just before the hour mark saw the Lilywhites to a hard earned victory away at Sheffield United, and having put in a performance and not got a result several times this season, the gaffer felt his side showed real resilience today.
“That’s probably the poorest performance we’ve put in and managed to win this season,” conceded Alex, “But I don’t want to take anything away from the lads.
“There’s different types of winning games and the simple fact is at the end of the game, you’d rather have won than played well and lost.
“We’ve had a lot of games this season where we’ve played particularly well but we’ve not got the points but we’ve showed a different side to ourselves today, we were resilient, we’ve dug in and defended well and when a chance came along we took it.
“It’s not a performance which I’ll look back on, but what it is, is a means to and end; we’ve got the three points, we’ll discard the performance and think about getting ready for next week.”
Today’s results means North End can get ready for next Sunday with it all to play with just two points separating them from the Play-Offs at the time of writing with one game to play, and the manager reiterated his and his team’s focus will be on themselves come next weekend at Deepdale against Burton Albion.
“If I’m being honest I didn’t have a ‘Scooby’ what was going on at the other grounds,” continued Alex. “I was just focused on trying to see a hard graft 20 minutes out because at that stage, we didn’t have possession of the ball, we were pinned back in and had to defend for our lives and we did that.
"The most important thing for us which I’ve said in the last few weeks, we need to take care of our own games because if we don’t, the rest doesn’t matter. We’ve done that and took it to the last game and now hopefully it will be an exciting end to the season for us.
“The pressure now goes to the other teams. They’re going to have to win their game, and we just need to take care of our game and if we don’t, we don’t deserve to be in the Play-Offs, if we do, then you never know what’s going to happen.”
Browne’s goal on 57 minutes came at a crucial time for Alex Neil’s side, with Sheffield United looking at making their home advantage count.
On the only goal of the game, Alex added: “Josh Harrop cuts in on his right foot and has a good shot and then Alan gets on the end of it to put it in the net.
“It was a strange game - very rarely do we get dominated but I didn’t think we dominated the game by any means today, but I’m pleased that we won it - it’s certainly not going to be one that we’ll remember for very long. We started brightly but then we were poor up until half-time and I said to them, nobody remembers the first half, particularly if it’s 0-0 what they remember is who wins the game and the boys did what they needed to do and win the game which is the most important thing.”
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder:
"We've come a very long way in a short space of time and for us to take it to the 45th game - I don't think anybody would've expected that.
"Ultimately we're disappointed today that we didn't finish off our home campaign which, I believe, has been very very positive.
"We've had some great results, and possibly more performances than results."
He did give us praise as well
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?