Chairboys tipped to sit tight
CONFIDENT Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth believes his side have the quality to stay in the Championship – despite being denied their first away win over Preston for 27 years.
Garath McCleary and Scott Kashket cancelled out Tom Barkhuizen’s opener, but Jason McCarthy’s own-goal denied the visitors their first league victory at Deepdale since November 27, 1993.
“We were in the driving seat, but the character we’ve shown today is what we need to stay in this division,” stressed Ainsworth.
“We’ve been more than competitive and probably done more than enough to win the game.”
Barkhuizen headed the hosts in front after a mistake from Josh Knight.
But McCleary levelled with a clinical close-range finish, his first goal for a year, and Kashket put the visitors in front with 15 minutes left after Joe Jacobson’s freekick hit a post.
However, there was a late twist when McCarthy deflected Scott Sinclair’s cross into his own net with three minutes remaining.
Emil Riis should have won it for the hosts in injury-time, but shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
“Did we deserve to win the game? No,” admitted Lilywhites boss Alex Neil.
“We switched off for their second goal and then you know it’s going to be tough.”
Preston lost talisman Ben Pearson to an ankle injury midway through the first half.
Neil added: “It was a big blow. Once he went off we probably lacked a bit of courage on the ball.”
PRESTON: Rudd 6; Rafferty 6 (Stockley 73, 5), Davies 7, Huntington 6, Browne 7; Ledson 7, Johnson 6 (Potts 73, 5), Pearson 5 (Harrop 32, 6); Barkhuizen 8, Maguire 6 (Riis 61, 5), Sinclair 6.
Unused subs: Ripley, Bayliss, Storey, HollandWilkinson, O’Reilly.
WYCOMBE: Allsop 6; Jacobson 7, Stewart 6 (Wheeler 67, 5), Knight 6, Grimmer 6; Onyedinma 6 (Bloomfield 78, 4), Horgan 7 (Freeman 78), McCarthy 5, McCleary 7; Akinfenwa 6 (Samuel 84), Kashket 7. Unused subs: Stockdale, Pattison, Parker, Mehmeti, Burley. MAN OF THE MATCH: Tom Barkhuizen. The winger bagged his fourth goal in five games. REFEREE: James Linington 6.