Match Day Thread Preston North End v Millwall Deepdale 15/12/2018

A rarity a home game and a warm welcome to the guys from the Den, Millwall who like ourselves punched above their weight last season making a long run from the relegation zone to the fringes of the play offs, this season could see a similar run as they are again in the danger zone however second season syndrome is always a harder ask and having sold Saville to Boro suspect they will do well to avoid the drop this season,

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They have picked up a massive three points on their travels being denied decent results with a couple of late setbacks especially at Norwich where they went from winning to losing in injury time.
No major stars in the side but play for each other, last season bothgames were draws suspect will be a close game again


Team News: Millwall

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Manager Alex Neil seems to be able to see off one injury only to have another of his side be ruled out of late!

Last weekend, Daniel Johnson made his return after missing the three previous games with a thigh problem, and came unscathed and will have benefitted for a second full week in a row on the training pitch.

However, Brandon Barker was forced off after only 25 minutes of the game at the City Ground with a hamstring strain and he will miss the clash with the Lions.

This leaves the PNE boss with a serious lack of options in the attacking areas, with Callum Robinson and Sean Maguire (both hamstring) and Billy Bodin and Josh Harrop (both ACL) ruled out long-term.
One player who has missed the last two games is midfielder Ben Pearson. He returned to training before the win at Forest, but was not risked, however, having had another week of training under his belt, he should be fully refreshed and ready to go against the Lions.
Josh Earl missed the trip to face Aitor Karanaka's men and once again he looks unlikely to be able to return against the south Londoners in PR1 on Saturday.

Last weekend Neil Harris surprised many when he named his line-up, with the likes of Aiden O'Brien, Lee Gregory, Tom Elliott and Steve Morrison were all involved after being all but ruled out earlier in the week.

All should have benefitted from a free midweek and be fit to maintain their roles in the team, but Shaun Williams (ankle) and Tom Bradshaw (knee) are definitely not in contention for the trip to Lancashire.

Ref Watch: Millwall

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This Saturday we have a brand new referee at Deepdale, taking charge of a Lilywhites fixture for the first time.

The match official for the clash with Neil Harris' Lions is John Brooks, in his first season on the Select Group Two list of referees.

The Leicestershire ref has taken charge of the visitors before, overseeing their 2016/17 clashes at home to Rochdale and away in Lancashire at Fleetwood Town.

Since his promotion to the Championship lists he has so far taken charge of 17 games, issuing 65 cautions and four red cards, with his last game being Birmingham City's 1-0 home defeat to Bristol City at the weekend.

He will be assisted by Phil Dermott and Akil Howson, whilst the fourth official will be experienced Championship referee Jeremy Simpson.

 

Preston North End 3 Browne, Barkhuizen, Hughes Millwall 2 Cooper, Gregory

PNE line-up: Rudd, Clarke ©, Hughes, Pearson, Huntington, Davies, Barkhuizen, Gallagher, Nmecha, Browne (Burke, 90), Johnson (Ledson, 82). Subs not used: Maxwell, Fisher, Storey, Woods, Walker.

Millwall line-up: Archer, Meredith (Ferguson, 46), Hutchinson, Cooper J Wallace, Gregory, Romeo, Tunnicliffe (Elliott, 82), Morison ©, O’Brien, Leonard. Subs: Amos, McLaughlin, Webster, Karacan, M Wallace.

Attendance: 10,924 (437 Millwall fans)

Referee: Mr J Brooks

Odd sort of game, Millwall parked the bus for the best part of 35 minutes and in the second half battered us for 30 minutes, think possibly if they had gone for it from the start they may have actually got something from this but not quibble over three points.
A day dragged from the Outer reachs of the North Pole, dark, soul less bitterly cold and wet, saw the Whites take on the visitors from London, North End this week without Louis Moult were basically down to the last remanants of having enough bodies to send out,
Very quiet first 20 minutes sat back, rarely ventured out of their half as North End dominated with the ball but these Lions were not for shifting, when they did eventually get forward they looked the most likely to score, threat mainly came from dead balls, they got some joy and Morison really should have scored headed over.
They got into more good positions which we cleared but not without difficulty, then getting towards half time double whammy for the visitors, first Gallagher combined with Nmecha and got the ball to Brown on the right side of the area, past Archer went the ball, one up, Gallagher again found Barkhuizen in space similar position toe Browne, same result two up.
Seemed to be home and hosed or would have been if Gallagher's effort had not forced Archer into a wonder save. Suddenly the visitors swotched on and it was all one way towards our goal, we had plenty of warnings especially from corners and from one the giant Cooper just about headed home needed goal line technology but it counted. Within minutes an iffy headed back pass was miles short of Rudd, think it was O;Brien took the ball around the keeper and shot across the face of an empty goal. Efforts on target were blocked, Rudd made a couple of good saves before Huntington pulled off a wonder last ditch tackle to again deny O'Brien after a rapid Lions break.
We got the goal which we badly needed direct from a free kick, Hughes credited with it but seemed to be deflected, Pearson was then denied after a fine move his shot hammering the cross bar, Just when you thought it was over Gregory netted from close range. Nmecha should have made it four but was denied by a defender.
Won without being at our best and with stacks of players missing, take the points and move onto Hillsborough next wek to meet the hapless Wendies.

Preston boss Alex Neil:

"I thought that it was a bit of a mixed performance on the whole. In the first half we controlled the ball well, but we did not look to penetrate them enough, and I thought the balance wasn't quite right at times.

"But two great passes from Paul Gallagher opened the game up in the first half. The first one, which goes through Lukas Nmecha, gets the goal and his pass for the second goal was a cracker.

"It wasn't great, but at the end of the day we have got three points, another win under our belts and we are now closer to the play-offs than the drop zone."

Millwall manager Neil Harris:

"It was groundhog day for us, we've conceded five or six chances and conceded three goals. At the other end we've created about 10 clear cut chances and scored two and ultimately we've come away with nothing from the game.

"In the 30 or so minutes before they score the opening goal, I cannot remember Preston being in our penalty area, but the two times the ball goes into our penalty area in the first half we concede.

"We simply cannot give opportunities like that away and expect to get away with it, because at this level it gives you a mountain to climb. If you wanted 90 minutes to sum up our season in a nutshell, that was it."
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