NEIL CAUTIOUS OF FRINGE PLAYERS
Holloway throws curveball with team
PRESTON manager Alex Neil believes the end-ofseason run-in is being made all the more difficult by facing teams with nothing to play for.
The Lilywhites came from behind to maintain their slim play-off hopes with goals from Callum Robinson and Alan Brown cancelling out Matt Smith’s opener.
Neil said: “I was surprised by QPR’s line-up. I picked our team based on who I was expecting them to play and then I get the teamsheet through and it’s completed different.
“I think it’s really difficult at this stage of the season when you come up against teams that haven’t got a lot to play for as you would normally expect managers to pick their strongest teams but they end up trailling different things and surprising you.
“I wasn’t happy with the way that we played in the first half and I felt we were lucky to come in at half-time level, but we showed resilience in the second half to get a result.”
The first chance of the game fell to Preston but Tom Barkhuizen could only hit a tame volley straight at Matt Ingram in the QPR goal.
QPR opened the scoring in the 13th minute with Ryan Manning volleying in a left-wing cross at the second attempt which found Smith unmarked to stab in on the half-volley.
The lead was almost doubled in the 19th minute, when Smith and Manning combined again with Manning seeing his header tipped over by Declan Rudd.
Preston grew into the game as the half went on and Paul Huntington had a header cleared off the line from Billy Bodin’s cross in the 39th minute.
Preston were level on the stroke of half-time with Robinson poking the ball over the line from a yard out after neat play from Bodin and Darnell Fisher.
Preston were much improved in the second half and Ingram had to be alert to smother Daniel Johnson’s through-ball at the feet of the on-rushing Barkhuizen.
North End had the ball in the net again in the 67th minute, but Robinson was denied his second goal of the game by the assistant’s flag.
Seven minutes later Preston took the lead, with substitute Paul Gallagher firing in a leftwing free-kick that was met in the air by Alan Browne.
The goal was initially awarded to Robinson who appeared to touch the ball over the line, but the replay confirmed that the ball was over the line before Robinson could get a final touch.
The game become more frantic with referee Robert Jones angering both sets of fans with his decisions as QPR pushed for an equaliser, however Preston always looked dangerous on the counter-attack.
Ingram was called into the action in the fifth minute of stoppage time to deny Barkhuizen the chance to put some gloss on the result for Preston.
QPR manager Ian Holloway was bemused by some of the referee’s decisions.
Holloway said: “I thought some of the decisions were really bizarre, but having said that, we didn’t play well enough to win.
“I’m bitterly disappointed because we went one-nil up against the run of play and then we couldn’t get the players we needed on the ball.
“I probably made too many changes but I wanted to give some fringe players a chance and that’s what I’m here to do.”