LOWE: NO SKIN OFF MY NOSE

PRESTON boss Ryan Lowe was delighted to avoid a potential banana skin after a comfortable win over a Rotherham side whose Championship status is hanging by a thread.

North End remain five points behind sixth-placed Norwich in the table but have lost just one of their last 10 to keep their play-off hopes alive.

Rock-bottom Rotherham are now 19 points from safety with only seven matches left, having still not won a match in 2024 and not won at all on their travels this season.

A goal from Duane Holmes and two from Emil Riis (scoring, above) just before half-time sealed all three points for Preston, with Lowe pleased by his team’s ability to get the job done.

Lowe said: “A clean sheet and three points, nobody can ask for anything more than that. At this time it’s just about winning games of football and we did that comfortably.

“It could have been a banana skin but, to be fair to the group, it definitely didn’t turn out like that. It’s all about staying positive given the position we’re in.”

Rotherham could now be mathematically relegated on Easter Monday, when they host Millwall, but manager Leam Richardson has urged his team to keep battling to the end.

He said: “We know what moment we’re in here and this club is massively in transition, I think we can all see that.

“If you’re not bang at it in this division, if you’re not at 100 percent all the time, you know you’re going to be in for a tough ride.

“It’s about me trying to get some confidence into the players and trying my best to give the team some kind of identity. Maybe then we can get better results.

“We certainly don’t want to be going out of this division with a whimper.”