PEARSON KO SANK NORTH END DREAM

PRESTON defender Paul Huntington admitted the loss of talisman midfielder Ben Pearson derailed their hopes of beating strugglers Wycombe.

Former Manchester United man Pearson hobbled off with a serious ankle injury after 28 minutes, with the Lilywhites leading through a header from Tom Barkhuizen (above).

But the hosts looked all at sea following Pearson’s loss and the Chairboys hit back with goals from Garath McCleary and Scott Kashket.

The visitors remained on course for what would have been their first away league win at Deepdale for 27 years until Jason McCarthy’s unfortunate own goal handed the Lilywhites a draw with three minutes left.

And the hosts could have even grabbed victory when substitute Emil Riis blazed horribly wide in injury time.

“Missing one of our best players probably affected us,” said Huntington. “I felt as though we should have been 2-0 up before we actually went ahead and Ben’s still on the pitch.

“But we showed good character, went for it, and had a big chance at the end we expect to normally take.”

Lilywhites manager Alex Neil said: “Arguably we had enough chances to win it but we didn’t deserve to win.

“The frustrating thing for us was that when Ben went off it became a problem for us.“

Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth said: “We’ve got the belief and I think we’ve got the ability to stay in the division.”

Rudd 6, Rafferty 6 (Stockley 73, 5), Davies 7, Huntington 6, Browne 7, Ledson 7, Johnson 6 (Potts 73, 5), Pearson 5 (Harrop 32, 6), Barkhuizen 8, Maguire 6 (Riis 61, 5), Sinclair 6.

WYCOMBE: Allsop 6, Jacobson 7, Stewart 6 (Wheeler 67, 5), Knight 6, Grimmer 6, Onyedinma 6 (Bloomfield 78, 4), Horgan 7 (Freeman 78, 4), McCarthy 5, McCleary 7, Akinfenwa 6 (Samuel 84, 4), Kashket 7.

PRESTON:

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