Browne better late than never
IT WAS quite a day for Preston’s Alan Browne, who missed the pre-match meeting after a puncture on the M61 before scoring a stoppage-time winner as his side came from behind to beat Huddersfield – but manager Simon Grayson says it won’t help him avoid a fine.
Browne’s 91st-minute header and a Joel Lynch own goal earned Preston the win after Nakhi Wells had given Huddersfield the lead ten minutes from time.
Huddersfield have still not won at Preston since 1969 while the Lilywhites have now lost just one of their last seven League games.
Grayson singled out the character of his side while insisting match-winner Browne will not escape a fine.
“We kept going and got fortunate with the own goal and Browney made his way into the box very late like he did for the team meeting at half past one,” Grayson joked.
“He’ll be celebrating but will be reprimanded after the weekend with a fine. It’s club rules. He’s lucky; other managers might not have played him but he came up with the goods so it won’t be as severe as it maybe would have been!
“It’s one of those games where we’ve won it and not deserved to if I’m truthful because of the number of chances they had. We’ve played a lot better this season and not won games so we’ll take that.
“What it shows is that we’ve got a group determined to do well and keep going to the very end. They don’t leave anything on the pitch, they put their bodies on the line and ultimately see where it takes them.”
Terriers captain Lynch came within inches of giving his side the lead on the half-hour as he stepped forward and crashed a 30-yard strike off the bar.
That sparked Preston into life as Jordan Hugill broke through on goal but Jed Steer saved his poke from 12 yards before Adam Reach dragged the rebound wide from six yards.
Wells produced a great piece of skill to get himself clean through on goal in the first minute of the second half, but Anders Lindegaard saved with his feet.
Huddersfield have scored more goals in the last 15 minutes than any other Championship side this season and broke the deadlock in the 80th minute. Jamie Paterson played through Wells who slid the ball under Lindegaard for his 11th League goal this season.
But their lead lasted just three minutes as Paul Gallagher’s strike deflected off the unfortunate Lynch and past Jed Steer. And Preston snatched it in injury time as Browne rose highest to nod Calum Woods’ cross home from six yards.
Huddersfield manager David Wagner praised the performance of his side and said it was unbelievable that they came away with nothing.
“This is one of the harder days since we started our journey here in Huddersfield three months ago,” Wagner said.
“It is so hard and frustrating because the gap between our performance and our result is unbelievably big.
“We saw two very different philosophies. One team likes to hit the long ball and the other try to play and perform on the pitch.
“What we have to work on is that we have to make the next step on our way and that next step is to keep this performance and to get points for this.”