Preston North End manager Alex Neil has expressed his delight after his side ended a torrid run by overcoming Fulham 2-1 last night.
Preston came into last night’s fixture looking to end a run of four straight defeats when they faced third-placed Fulham at Deepdale, and did so in dramatic fashion as they ran out 2-1 victors with both sides receiving straight red cards.
The Lilywhites took the lead a quarter of the way into the game through Sean Maguire, before Dennis Odoi was dismissed for the visitors for an elbow on Patrick Bauer. Then, Joe Rafferty received his red card for a forceful challenge on Joe Bryan.
The hosts doubled their lead seven minutes after half time through David Nugent, and Aleksandar Mitrovic added a consolation goal for the Cottagers late on.
The victory sees Preston get back into the play-offs by two points, despite being second before their four-game losing streak.
Alex Neil was obviously a delighted man following this win and he had this to say on the result to the club’s official site: “We started the season so well it was difficult to accept for myself because I hate losing games and I hate feeling as though I’m letting anybody down. It meant a lot to me, it meant a lot to the players to win the match.
“The last four games have been tough for everybody; we’ve been disappointed we’ve not played as well as we can.
“I think I’ve found it difficult to get the balance right with some of the players being missing so I thought the lads were great, I thought they worked their socks off.”
The victory sees Preston move to within one point of Fulham as we move towards the halfway point of the Championship campaign.
Can you name every Preston league position from the last 14 seasons?
The Verdict
Neil is under no illusions that they had to stop the rot with their four straight losses in the league and to do it against a side looking towards automatic promotion is a huge statement and bounce-back.
Up next for Neil’s side is another home game against struggling Luton, where Preston will surely be hoping for back-to-back wins to try to close the gap to the automatic promotion places.