MAGUIRE IN HERO WHIRL FOR HIS GIRL
FIVE league defeats in a row. In the relegation zone. Two points off the foot of the table.
MOTM JOE LOLLEY (NOTTINGHAM FOREST) PRESTON striker Sean Maguire promised his girlfriend he would score the winner on his big comeback.
True to his word, he did just that with a match-winning double as he returned from four months on the injury list.
The Irishman, 23, (celebrating his second, above) a fans’ favourite at Deepdale, also revealed he had targeted this Lancashire showdown to recover from his serious hamstring complication.
He revealed: “It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my career. It’s a day I’ll always remember.
“To hear 4,000 fans chanting my name when I came on as a sub was fantastic.
“But after I scored my second in injury time, I was just about wrecked. I couldn’t even celebrate properly.”
Maguire was laid low back on November 1 last year, when his hamstring muscle came away from the tendon. But after an under-23 run-out against Burnley for 45 minutes last Wednesday, boss Alex Neil decided it was time for a 25-minute first-team try-out.
Tom Barkhuizen had scored a belter to rub out a shock first-half strike by Bolton’s Mark Beevers, his first this season. Then on came Maguire to strike twice.
Maguire, bought from Cork City last summer for £150,000, revealed: “When I knew I was in the squad, I told my girlfriend if we needed a winner I would score it. I would have taken just coming on, but to get a brace and then win the game was massive.”
Beevers admitted: “It’s nice to get off the mark, but we’re disappointed to lose.”