COLLIN A LATE GREAT!
COLLIN QUANER’S last-gasp winner kept Huddersfield dreaming of a return to the top flight.
He pounced on the rebound from Aaron Mooy’s disputed penalty for his first league goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Chris Maxwell had pushed away the spot-kick but German striker Quaner, on as an 86th-minute sub, reacted first to almost certainly seal Huddersfield’s spot in the play-offs.
Furious
But Preston boss Simon Grayson was furious with referee Lee Probert for awarding the penalty, for a Jordan Hugill push on Elias Kachunga off the ball.
Grayson said: “We were undone by a really poor refereeing decision. I’ve watched the DVD and there’s absolutely nothing in it.
“Before that, both players got up, Kachunga turned to Jordan, walked across him and the referee said he pushed and stamped on him. It’s clear he didn’t.
“The referee must have some vision to have seen that.”
Losers in three of their last four games, Huddersfield’s nerves were stretched by a superb opener from Preston’s Aiden McGeady, who fired in a stunning shot after 23 minutes.
Town were gifted an equaliser just before the break, when Maxwell flapped at Mooy’s corner and Kachunga headed home, and should have seen it out after sub Jack Payne nodded them ahead on 70 minutes.
But the home side’s dodgy defending allowed Hugill to level at 2-2 as he rose high to nod in Tom Barkhuizen’s accurate cross.
To add to Preston’s frustrations, they could have had a winner of their own a few minutes later when Hugill fired over the bar from McGeady’s cross.
Huddersfield boss David Wagner said: “I haven’t seen the penalty, but the players say it was a foul and a foul in the box is a penalty.
“But I’m happy and proud with the lads. They showed me today they are still in the game.”