Preston fume at gift for Grabban
STARING at the prospect of a second successive defeat, Aston Villa were rescued by an assistant referee’s flag.
Steve Bruce’s side laboured through much of this contest against a Preston team with promotion ambitions of their own, and only a fiercely protested penalty enabled the hosts to score.
Villa substitute Keinan Davis ran to retrieve the ball on the edge of the Preston box and fell down when passing between Greg Cunningham and Tom Barkhuizen. It looked innocuous but assistant referee Nick Greenhalgh waved to signal a foul and Darren England pointed to the spot.
Preston were furious and Ben Pearson earned a booking for his protests. Lewis Grabban kept his cool and with 66 minutes on the clock rolled his penalty down the middle as Declan Rudd dived out of the way. It was a first Villa goal for Grabban.
Late on Alan Hutton flashed a wicked shot over and Davis sent a volley wide from Grabban’s cross but defeat would have been harsh on Preston.
Villa just about deserved the point on effort. It was not enough to lift them back into the automatic promotion places but it at least avoided a second damaging defeat in the space of four days.
For Preston, the manner of the result left a bitter taste and frustrated their attempts to climb into the play-off places. Preston boss Alex Neil said: ‘We were better in every facet of the game. It is frustrating that a really soft penalty is the way they get back into the match. At a big away ground, you are hoping for a level playing field and a strong referee.’
The continued absence of Jack Grealish through a calf injury affected Villa’s creativity again after Saturday’s defeat at Fulham and Bruce also said a bobbly pitch meant his team had to go direct to get a result.
‘We were poor in the first half, too slow,’ said the Villa boss. ‘That’s why we went a little bit more basic. To get something out of the game was vitally important, especially with the people we have missing.’
Bruce saw the major incident differently. ‘It looked soft at the time,’ he admitted. ‘ But when you look back, the ref and linesman have got it spot on — Barkhuizen has jumped into Keinan.’
Although Rudd saved from Birkir Bjarnason and Scott Hogan, Sam Johnstone was the busier goalkeeper and at fault for Preston’s goal in the 37th minute. His poor punch from Callum Robinson’s corner allowed Barkhuizen to hook a bicycle kick towards goal. John Terry and James Chester appeared ready to clear on the line but Johnstone jumped to palm over, only succeeding in diverting the ball into the corner of the net.
Bruce sent on both Davis and Grabban at the interval to go 4-2-4 but almost conceded when Paul Huntington forced a fine save from Johnstone.
A Terry mishap then gave Neil’s team a glorious chance. Robinson was through but Johnstone blocked again. Villa were in need of assistance, and it came from the officials.