Costa can’t make flat Whites
PRESTON’S 10 MEN HOLD THE WOLVES PREMIER BRAND
NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO called for more from his Wolves players after they failed to collect three points from 10-man Preston.
His table-topping side fell behind to a fine header from man-of-thematch Alan Browne, only to equalise through the impressive Helder Costa two minutes after John Welsh was sent off.
But despite having half an hour left in the match, they failed to find a winner, much to the frustration of the Wolves boss.
Nuno said: “This was a tough game and they made it very difficult for us. After the red card they dropped back well.
“Everybody felt that we were close to winning the game – but playing against a team with one less man requires a different approach and it is something we need to look at. We were in control of the game and we conceded from a set-piece and that is also something we need to look at.
“I am not happy with this result because we set up every game to win. We will look at what went wrong and get better for the next game.
“No, I am not happy but I am proud of the lads because they are relentless and we need to have this in every game.”
Wolves enjoyed the better of the chances in the first half thanks to their slick passing and searing pace up front with Costa firing narrowly over early on.
Nuno’s side ramped up the pressure as the half wore on and in a move straight off the training pitch, Alfred N’diaye almost opened the scoring with a clever header at the near post from a short corner.
The ball was smuggled away as far as Ruben Neves, a club record signing at £15million from Nuno’s former club Porto, and his thunderous drive was only inches too high.
Preston, though, withstood the pressure and hit a purple patch towards the end of the first period with some set-pieces of their own – including a couple of well-worked corners. One resulted in a towering header from Ben Davies just missing the target.
And the Whites came out with purpose after the break with Browne working himself a yard of pace before unleashing a low drive that John Ruddy did well to tip onto the post.
He eventually beat Ruddy on 52 minutes when Callum Robinson crossed to the far post from another smart short corner – and Browne was waiting to powerfully head home.
But that was as good as it got for the home side who were soon down to 10 men when Welsh got his marching orders following a second yellow card.
Things got worse for Preston two minutes later when the ball squirted into the path of Costa following a driving run from Ivan Cavaleiro that was all about desire, and the Portugal man found the net for the second time in as many games with a fine finish.
The visitors were denied the chance to take all three points by a string of fine saves from Ruddy and a tireless display from enforcer Browne, who was praised by his manager Alex Neil.
The Preston boss said: “People forget that Alan is only 22.
“He is still a kid and could go on to become a top player for us. I asked him to bring goals into his game and he is doing that now.
“It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we had kept 11 men on the pitch because before the sending off I was confident we would win.”