Aiden goal celebration fine with Grayson
SIMON Grayson believes Aiden McGeady came in for unfair stick on his return to Preston – and defended the winger’s goal celebrations at Deepdale.
McGeady spent last season on loan at Preston from Everton, playing under Grayson.
And the pair linked up this summer at Sunderland, with Grayson taking the reins on Wearside and McGeady making a £250,000 move.
But McGeady was booed throughout by the Preston fans, and when he scored his 59th-minute goal, he responded by racing the length of field to celebrate in front of the home supporters.
Grayson said: “You’re allowed to run around and celebrate on any part of the pitch how you want.
“He looked like Emmanuel Adebayor when he was playing for Man City and scored against his old club Arsenal.
“Why shouldn’t he [McGeady] celebrate, because he was taunted a little bit – unfairly, I thought, because he was exceptional here last year.
“He didn’t have the choice to come to Preston, so it was never a decision for him to make.”
While the 2-2 draw was not enough to end Sunderland’s winless streak, which now extends to nine league games, it was at least a response to the dire performance in the 5-2 defeat at Ipswich in midweek.
He said: “After losing heavily in midweek, the good thing about it was we responded today and looked a really decent team.
“We showed lots of character and withstood the pressure.
“We worthy of our lead at half-time, we limited them to few opportunities and we matched their desire and energy, which is something they have in abundance.
“Then in the second half, when we had to dig deep, we did that.”
Grayson made five changes, explaining: “We went back to having a bit more experience in the team with John O’Shea in there, we brought Ty Browning in because he has the pace to deal with the likes of Sean Maguire, Tom Barkhuizen, and Hugill, and we played two lads up front to really work their back four.
“The lads who came into the team did well, we always said we’ve give them an opportunity, and they responded today.
“We reacted, that’s the biggest thing, whether we got three points or one today.”