Lowe blow floors Ryan and Co as Baggies run riot
IT was anything but ‘Proud Preston’ as Ryan Lowe’s men lost their unbeaten start to the season.
The buoyant Baggies at last got their act together after four winless games as they overpowered the wilting Lilywhites from start to finish.
And Deepdale boss Lowe said: “We were nowhere near the level we expect.
“But we have to take it on the chin, roll up our sleeves and get on with the game against Leicester.”
Naturally, Hawthorns’ boss Carlos Corberan was the happier man. The normally intense Spaniard even managed a smile as he reflected on well-taken goals by Darnell Furlong, Alex Mowatt, Matt Phillips and, late on, Kyle Bartley.
And this convincing victory against previouslyunbeaten Preston left Corberan admitting: “We thought coming here would be difficult, so we had to show commitment.
“We had belief in ourselves from start to finish – and showed determination to win the game.
“We may not have won our last four games before this, though we came close.
“But we did more positive things to win this one.”
Furlong’s early opener was simplicity itself.
On the break, Phillips threaded a beautiful pass through to Furlong, and the Baggies’ attacking rightback hit a first-time rightfooter from just outside the box.
The move caught Preston’s defence flatfooted, and Furlong’s well-placed low shot gave exposed North End keeper
Freddie Woodman no chance. To make matters worse for Preston, another quick attack left them two goals down, courtesy of old hand Mowatt.
The influential midfielder was in the right place to hit a powerful left-foot shot past Woodman.
Albion shrugged off their relatively poor early season form and their three consecutive draws with a confident display in the old pass-and-move tradition.
In contrast, North End were largely out-thought and out-fought for much of the first half.
All the Deepdale outfit had to show for their stuttering efforts were a high-andwide effort from Canadian newcomer Liam Millar, and a longdistance curler from Ali Mccann.
To add insult to injury, one-time Blackpool winger Phillips put West Brom further ahead when he hit home an unstoppable rightfoot shot in the second half.
Then Bartley killed off Preston with his late goal as he turned in a free-kick with three minutes remaining.