Welsh red cost us win, says Neil

MANY managers would have been delighted to take a point against runaway Championship leaders Wolves, but Preston boss Alex Neil felt they would have taken all three had they kept 11 men on the field.

Alan Browne had put Preston ahead but John Welsh was dismissed for a second booking and Helder Costa grabbed an equaliser almost immediately.

The draw extended Preston’s unbeaten run to six league games, but Neil felt they would have inflicted only the fifth league defeat on Wolves had it not been for Welsh’s dismissal.

“What would have been really good would have been to keep 11 men on the pitch and see how the game transpired,” Neil said.

“At that stage I was really confident we would have gone on to win. We were the team on top and normally we finish games really well.

“The disappointment for me is that I spoke to John about his booking at half-time. The two bookings were a bit soft.

“The way the Wolves players go down and roll about it looks as if they are really hurt, so the referee thinks it should be a really bad tackle but it’s actually just an honest attempt to get the ball.”

The first chance fell to Wolves after 25 minutes when Ivan Cavaleiro was slipped through by Ryan Bennett but blasted high over the bar with his left foot from eight yards.

And Wolves almost went ahead on the half-hour through Ruben Neves, whose first-time volley from 20 yards flashed just over the bar.

Preston knew that victory could move them inside the play-off places and they started the second half brightly. Browne drove into the area after 48 minutes and fired a rightfooted effort which was superbly tipped onto the post by John Ruddy.

And Darnell Fisher threatened on 51 minutes as he flashed towards goal at the far post and his effort was deflected over the bar.

But Preston had the lead a minute later from the resulting corner. Robinson delivered the ball from the left-hand side to the far post where Browne rose highest to nod in from three yards.

After that, it all began to unravel for Neil’s side. First they were reduced to ten men on 59 minutes as Welsh received a second yellow card for a cynical pull-back on Cavaleiro.

And it took just two minutes for Wolves to make their numerical advantage count as Cavaleiro launched a surging run through the middle before slipping in Costa, who slotted past Declan Rudd from eight yards.

Rudd twice denied Wolves that winner with five minutes remaining, getting out quickly to smother Benik Afobe’s effort before palming away Neves’ 25yard strike.

“I am not happy with the result because we prepare every game to win,” said Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo.

“I am very proud of the attitude of the team. We were relentless, and we need to be relentless every game.

“Everybody knew about Preston – one defeat in 16 games says a lot about a team. It was clear that we were the better team but you have to give credit to Preston because they were tough.

“We created enough chances to win it. We will work on it to make those chances become goals.”