Neil throws down double-figures task for goal hero Sean
ALEX NEIL hailed matchwinner Sean Maguire after he sealed Preston’s first away win since March.
The North End boss also challenged the Irishman to hit double figures this season.
Maguire’s first-half goal, his second in successive games, lifted Neil’s men to third in the table.
But after a 100 per cent record at Deepdale this season, they finally got their act together on the road.
And the only goal of the game came after 23 minutes when Maguire won a free-kick 20 yards out.
Paul Gallagher’s shot went under the Birmingham wall and hit the inside of the post, Maguire was quickest to react and he slotted home from close range.
Neil said: “He’s a special player. It’s always nice when you’ve got someone in your team who can produce something from nothing.
“It’s such an ace to have up your sleeve.
“That type of player is really difficult to handle because whatever you do, they will do something else.
“I’ve always thought Sean is a double-figures striker at this level.”
Preston survived a couple of scares after the break and might have conceded a penalty when Maxime Colin’s cross hit Ben Davies’ hand.
Referee Stephen Martin waved play on and the officials then denied Birmingham an equaliser 12 minutes from time.
Lukas Jutkiewicz looked to have set up a goal when he provided the cross for sub Alvaro Gimenez, who crashed the ball into the roof of the net but the effort was flagged offside.
Neil felt they could have had two penalties when Maguire went down under challenges in each half.
The Preston boss said: “I think he should have had at least one penalty – you can’t just barge someone from the back.
“I spoke to the referee and he said he should have been stronger but I’m not sure how much stronger he could be!
“In the second half he shifted the ball and the lad caught his foot – if you don’t kick the ball but kick the man, it’s a penalty.”
Blues boss Pep Clotet was undecided over the offside decision and said Davies’ handball was difficult to assess.
He was angrier with ref Martin for calling a water break with 15 minutes left.
Clotet said: “The big shock was to see a water break in the game.
“That killed the whole momentum, that’s the first time I’ve seen this. I come from a country where games are played in 40 to 45 degree heat.
“I’ve never seen a water break there. I’ve seen it in friendlies, this was not a friendly!
“The ref said our players were asking for the break but I doubt it as we were in a really good moment.” QUIQUE SANCHEZ FLORES almost certainly has Norwich to thank for this.
Seven days after Manchester City were stung by a first league defeat in eight months and a first of the season, there was always likely to be a reaction.
And it was the Watford manager’s misfortune that he and his shell-shocked side walked straight into an eight-goal thumping with Bernardo Silva grabbing a hat-trick.
With 18 minutes on the clock the Spaniard (below) stood alone, hands deep in pockets, already 5-0 down and with the eyes of a man watching a steamroller coming towards him.
It was as if you could almost see his hair going greyer from up in the stands.
Two games into his second spell at the club and he was on the end of a real drubbing.
Taking positives was nigh-on impossible.
“We have to say sorry to the fans,” he said afterwards.
“It was very difficult to be on the pitch today.
“After 30 seconds we thought it would be tough, after five minutes it was difficult.
“But after 15 minutes it was impossible.”
It was the fastest any team had ever raced to five goals in the Premier League and although Watford reached the break without further damage, three more arrived in the second half to deliver City’s biggest Premier League win.
With Manchester United holding the Premier League record at 9-0 against Ipswich in 1995, the pressure remained unrelenting to the end with City missing a hatful of chances late on.
It says something that Bernardo Silva bagged a hat-trick but was not the best player on the pitch. That was midfield ace Kevin De Bruyne who provided a big reminder to Pep Guardiola of the folly of not starting him at Carrow Road by orchestrating the mauling of the Hornets.
It was fitting he provided the final goal, hammering the ball high into Watford’s net on 85 minutes.
But the cherry of equalling that record eluded him after he done all the hard work to create another opening two minutes later only to pull his shot just wide of the post.
Watford were reduced to a bickering rabble early after wave