[themaclad]

Preston North End 3 Holmes, Browne pen, Osmajic Coventry City 2 Wright 2

PNE line-up: Woodman; Potts, Storey, Lindsay, Best (Brady, 77); Whiteman, Browne; Whiteman, Browne; Holmes (Woodburn, 85)Frøkjær (Evans, 68), Millar; Osmajić (Keane, 85). Subs not used: Cornell, Bauer, Stewart, Ledson, Mawene.

Coventry City line-up: Wilson; Thomas, McFadzean (Eccles, 45), Kitching; Latibeaudiere, Allen (O’Hare, 60), Sheaf, Ayari (Simms, 45), Dasilva (Bidwell, 60); Godden (Van Ewijk, 83), Wright. Subs not used: Collins, Binks, Sakamoto, Stretton.

Attendance: 16,716 (2,982 Coventry fans).

Referee: Mr A Taylor.

A cracking match ended up with a narrow win for North End, this was a good a game as seen on home turf for a good while. Helps when you have a visiting team who attack and not sit back. To be fair to City they were probably unlucky not to take a point butcan see why they went so close to the promised land last season, they were excellent in the second half.
Yellow ball has returned being a sad anorak I actually know who the first player to score a hat trick when the yellow ball was first used(Answer at the end of the blog)
A murky old afternoon super following from the Midlands who were in the main very vocal they were still singing after I'd left the stadium after the game.
Coventry in charge in the early stages without looking dangerous, once we got into our stride, we actually played some good stuff, Millar with pace to burn give the City backline a torrid time although doesn't seem to want to get into the area, e had chances Browne had a shot parried by Wilson in the City goal, he was lucky it didn't go in. Osmajic was possibly a bit greedy following a speedy break following a City attack. Godden fired wide for City but only looked a matter of time until North End scored, or so I thought.
Some great defensive work by City led to a counter attack, Godden fired the ball across the face of goal, Wright looking offside simple task of tapping the ball home. Within 6 minutes we would be ahead, level three minutes after City goal poor defensive header Holmes about 15 yards out picked his spot. Then glory be we are given a penalty Osmajic clean through clearly pushed when shooting by McFadzean. After a bit of thought Mr Taylor gave it, Browne did the rest from the spot although Wilson went the right way.
Second period we were on the backfoot for most of the half City substitutions made them better , they forced us back although never got that close to scoring, mainly thanks to sterling defence by Lindsay and Storey. We had bits of play but were under siege, next goal vital and we got it, Millar down the left ball into the box and Osmajic between defenders headed home, gave us breathing space.
Looked odds on to extend the undefeated run against Coventry to 20 plus game then a shot from outside the box deflected, Woodman good save however ball ran to Wright who tapped in his second. Storey great header to clear a dangerous cross then deep into injury time neat play on the edge of the box, Sheaf in on goal about to pull the trigger, Browne steals the ball from him to cap an outstanding performance by the skipper.
Hard fought, three big points

Preston boss Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"It was like a basketball match at one point, but we ended up taking three points off a very good team, which has got to be pleasing.

"Coventry are a well coached team with a fantastic manager and some quality players. We know they're in a false position. I said that to Mark Robins at the end.

"I said to the lads if you want to beat a quality side like Coventry you have to outrun them and out perform them and they've worked their socks off."

Coventry City boss Mark Robins told BBC CWR:

"Stupid mistakes have crept in as we're a little bit nervy, having now lost four on the bounce. But in the second half we looked a bit more like us.

"We were livelier, more in control and looked a threat and Haji Wright has got two goals for us, which is obviously a plus. And Ellis Simms looked powerful when he came on.

"You know it's close to happening for us and the fans are staying with us. Hopefully this is just our poor period of the season. We still have a really good chance of turning this round."


Answer Chris Greenacre for Mansfield scored the first hattrick with a yellow ball, the game was played on a Friday night