BUTLER: TAYLOR’S PRICELESS
Chairboys boss fired by victory
DONCASTER boss Andy Butler believes injured winger Jon Taylor can still make a valuable contribution to Rovers’ promotion push.
The 28-year-old will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury, but Butler feels he can still help the squad.
Butler said: “It’s disappointing for him and us and we’ll do everything we can for him.
“He’s the type of character you need and we want him in and around things.”
GARETH Ainsworth believes victory over Preston will fuel Wycombe’s ‘genuine belief’ they can avoid relegation.
Ryan Tafazolli’s 27thminute header was enough to seal a sixth league win of the season for the Chairboys against a Preston side who have won just once in seven games.
Wycombe remain bottom, but are now nine points adrift of Birmingham with ten matches to play, a deficit Ainsworth feels is surmountable.
“They all believe we can stay up,” he said. “We’re only nine points off Birmingham, but we’re not even looking at Birmingham.
“We’re looking to catch Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham and Coventry – those teams we’ve still got to play.
“There’s a genuine belief that we can do this and it has come at a perfect time.
“Whatever happens, we’ll be fighting. We’ll go down fighting or we’ll stay up fighting.
“Those 1-0 wins with clean sheets always feel good. But what’s even better is we deserved it. In the first half, we were phenomenal.”
The opening exchanges belonged to the hosts and Tafazolli showed a glimpse of what was to come as he rose to meet two Joe Jacobson corners. After planting the first effort wide, his second was on target and needed a hand from Daniel Iversen to touch it over the bar.
Both Anis Mehmeti and Uche Ikpeazu then came close, Ikpeazu latching on to a looping Thompson header, only to see his shot kept out Iversen. From the resulting corner, it was third-time lucky for Tafazolli as he once again climbed highest to send a firm header across goal and into the net just before the half-hour mark.
At the other end, Preston struggled to carve out any clear-cut chances, with their biggest opportunity coming after David Stockdale flapped at a Preston corner before the ball was cleared.
Manager Alex Neil opted for a triple substitution at half-time and the changes saw Preston show more attacking intent and Ched Evans curled a shot narrowly over just before the hour mark.
Preston came close to an equaliser as two substitutes combined, Brad Potts dragging a shot into the side netting.
And late on Potts could only blast wide from a Ched Evans header.
Neil admitted his side’s lacklustre first-half display cost them dear.
“We lost the game in the first half,” he said. “They were hungrier than us, they moved the ball better, won more duby els and tackles. We didn’t compete in the first half.
“We lacked any real fight to get into the game. We knew we would have to be physical and aggressive and we’d need to run. But we lacked all of those ingredients.
“We had two warnings [before the goal] and it’s so soft. If I’m being honest, I thought the more worrying signs were the lack of fight and competitiveness by us to try to win the game.
“I wouldn’t even say I’m angry or annoyed at the first half, just disappointed.”