28-08-2021, 20:11
Preston North End 3 Van Den Berg, Riis, Whiteman Swansea City 1 Piroe
Preston North End sealed a third successive win with a 3-1 victory at home to Swansea City.
It was the visitors who took the lead after 19 minutes, as Joel Piroe fired past Daniel Iversen, but the home side made a quick response, with Sepp van den Berg’s second goal in as many games levelling the scoring two minutes later.
Emil Riis put his side ahead before the break, firing home two minutes into added time, and Ben Whiteman then scored six minutes into the second half to put PNE two ahead.
Frankie McAvoy opted to make just one change from last weekend’s victory over Peterborough United, bringing in Riis after his midweek brace against Morecambe.
He was involved in a controversial incident just six minutes in, appearing to be tripped inside the area by defender Joel Latibeaudiere, but referee Thomas Bramall waved away PNE’s appeals.
At the other end, Iversen was beaten on 19 minutes, as the visitors’ top scorer Piroe slotted the ball past the Dane to put his side ahead after being found by Jamie Paterson.
North End responded almost instantly, as two minutes later they were back level, with Josh Earl’s cross finding Van den Berg, who did extremely well to shift the ball onto his right foot before firing across goal and into the far corner.
In a five-minute spell before half-time, PNE created a flurry of chances, with Riis being denied one-on-one by goalkeeper Steven Benda, before Sean Maguire fired wide after switching from right to left.
North End were in front before the break, however, as a cross from Daniel Johnson from the left fell to Riis, who thumped the ball past Benda to give PNE a half-time lead.
Early in the second 45, Riis was sent through on goal once more, but was clattered by Benda, who was shown a yellow card, and from the resulting free-kick, Whiteman expertly found the bottom corner to put his side two in front.
North End kept creating chances, with the likes of Patrick Bauer and Riis both having efforts off target, and the team comfortably saw the game out to take the three points.
PNE line-up: Iversen; Storey, Bauer, Hughes; van den Berg; Whiteman, Ledson (Rodwell-Grant, 90+3'), Johnson, Earl; Maguire (Potts, 87), Riis (Sinclair, 80).
Subs not used: Rudd, Cunningham, Harrop, Rafferty.
Swansea line-up: Benda; Latibeaudiere (Cooper, 11), Bennett (Lowe, 61), Manning; Laird, Fulton (Naughton, 61), Grimes, Bidwell; Cullen, Piroe, Paterson.
Subs not used: Hamer, Whittaker, Dhanda, Williams.
Referee: Mr T Bramall
Attendance: 10,180 (539 away)
Preston head coach Frankie McAvoy:
"I have said to the group, let's not get too low when we lose and not get too high when we win. I knew it would just be a matter of time before we started to pick up. I had every faith in the group.
"I am delighted today, I thought particularly our second-half performance was excellent. Our response from going a goal down was the type of response I know these boys are capable of.
"We tried to make sure we could get our press right. We know they will take chances, they will try to play from them back, they use the goalkeeper as well.
"You need to get it right because if you don't they can play through you, which they did a few times. I think it took about 20 minutes until we really got it going."
Swansea head coach Russell Martin:
"I am really disappointed. I didn't see it coming. It's a game too many for a lot of the guys I think - physically, mentally, a lot of tried bodies.
"Making a change so early in the game with Joel [Latibeaudiere] getting injured, Brandon [Cooper] was taken out because he needed a rest and then gets thrown back in bless him. Ryan Bennett has just come back off the back of Covid so we knew he couldn't complete 90 minutes. Kyle Naughton is on the bench for that reason - he's still not feeling 100%.
"I feel like we will never be weaker than that in terms of squad selection, the amount we have had to juggle.
"It's been a hectic four weeks with no time to work really on the training pitch. The only positive for me is that I don't think we will ever go into a game as weak as we did today, not just in terms of personnel but for all those reasons."
Preston North End sealed a third successive win with a 3-1 victory at home to Swansea City.
It was the visitors who took the lead after 19 minutes, as Joel Piroe fired past Daniel Iversen, but the home side made a quick response, with Sepp van den Berg’s second goal in as many games levelling the scoring two minutes later.
Emil Riis put his side ahead before the break, firing home two minutes into added time, and Ben Whiteman then scored six minutes into the second half to put PNE two ahead.
Frankie McAvoy opted to make just one change from last weekend’s victory over Peterborough United, bringing in Riis after his midweek brace against Morecambe.
He was involved in a controversial incident just six minutes in, appearing to be tripped inside the area by defender Joel Latibeaudiere, but referee Thomas Bramall waved away PNE’s appeals.
At the other end, Iversen was beaten on 19 minutes, as the visitors’ top scorer Piroe slotted the ball past the Dane to put his side ahead after being found by Jamie Paterson.
North End responded almost instantly, as two minutes later they were back level, with Josh Earl’s cross finding Van den Berg, who did extremely well to shift the ball onto his right foot before firing across goal and into the far corner.
In a five-minute spell before half-time, PNE created a flurry of chances, with Riis being denied one-on-one by goalkeeper Steven Benda, before Sean Maguire fired wide after switching from right to left.
North End were in front before the break, however, as a cross from Daniel Johnson from the left fell to Riis, who thumped the ball past Benda to give PNE a half-time lead.
Early in the second 45, Riis was sent through on goal once more, but was clattered by Benda, who was shown a yellow card, and from the resulting free-kick, Whiteman expertly found the bottom corner to put his side two in front.
North End kept creating chances, with the likes of Patrick Bauer and Riis both having efforts off target, and the team comfortably saw the game out to take the three points.
PNE line-up: Iversen; Storey, Bauer, Hughes; van den Berg; Whiteman, Ledson (Rodwell-Grant, 90+3'), Johnson, Earl; Maguire (Potts, 87), Riis (Sinclair, 80).
Subs not used: Rudd, Cunningham, Harrop, Rafferty.
Swansea line-up: Benda; Latibeaudiere (Cooper, 11), Bennett (Lowe, 61), Manning; Laird, Fulton (Naughton, 61), Grimes, Bidwell; Cullen, Piroe, Paterson.
Subs not used: Hamer, Whittaker, Dhanda, Williams.
Referee: Mr T Bramall
Attendance: 10,180 (539 away)
Preston head coach Frankie McAvoy:
"I have said to the group, let's not get too low when we lose and not get too high when we win. I knew it would just be a matter of time before we started to pick up. I had every faith in the group.
"I am delighted today, I thought particularly our second-half performance was excellent. Our response from going a goal down was the type of response I know these boys are capable of.
"We tried to make sure we could get our press right. We know they will take chances, they will try to play from them back, they use the goalkeeper as well.
"You need to get it right because if you don't they can play through you, which they did a few times. I think it took about 20 minutes until we really got it going."
Swansea head coach Russell Martin:
"I am really disappointed. I didn't see it coming. It's a game too many for a lot of the guys I think - physically, mentally, a lot of tried bodies.
"Making a change so early in the game with Joel [Latibeaudiere] getting injured, Brandon [Cooper] was taken out because he needed a rest and then gets thrown back in bless him. Ryan Bennett has just come back off the back of Covid so we knew he couldn't complete 90 minutes. Kyle Naughton is on the bench for that reason - he's still not feeling 100%.
"I feel like we will never be weaker than that in terms of squad selection, the amount we have had to juggle.
"It's been a hectic four weeks with no time to work really on the training pitch. The only positive for me is that I don't think we will ever go into a game as weak as we did today, not just in terms of personnel but for all those reasons."
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