NEIL FUMES OVER CUNNINGHAM RED
PRESTON boss Alex Neil was left “aggrieved and frustrated” after his side failed to take all three points from their trip to Griffin Park.
Tom Barkhuizen put Preston ahead nine minutes after half-time, but Florian Jozefzoon equalised to earn Brentford a point.
The visitors then had Greg Cunningham sent off and endured a tough final 15 minutes. But Neil felt it should have been the hosts who were down to ten men, and that his side had been denied a chance to make a game of it by two first-half decisions.
Tommy Spurr, on his return to the Preston line-up for the first time since September, was adjudged offside when he thumped a header home, while Josh McEachran should probably have been sent off for a cynical challenge on Callum Robinson that would have been more at home a few miles south of Griffin Park at Twickenham, with the striker through on goal.
Neil said: “There’s a couple of areas that we feel aggrieved and frustrated by.
“The goal that Spurr scores, having seen it back on a replay, it looks as though the full-back has played him on.
“And when Callum nicked the ball and is breaking through on goal, I’ve watched it back again, and the two guys that are alongside him are wrong side.
“I’m not an advocate of people being sent off, because it ruins the game, as it did today. However, if ours is a sending-off, that certainly is.
“That changes the match. Because we’re away from home, they’re down to 10 men and we’ve got an opportunity to try to win the game.”
Having survived those two let-offs Brentford should have taken the lead before the break, but Neal Maupay was denied by Declan Rudd.
And Maupay was punished for his profligacy when Preston took the lead early in the second half. Barkhuizen’s inswinging cross from the right was just over the head of Robinson, but it didn’t matter that the striker couldn’t apply a touch as the ball drifted past everyone and into the far corner.
The home side were stung into action. McEachran went close soon after, before Jozefzoon struck the equaliser. It was a stunning effort, as the winger took the ball on his chest and fired it low into the bottom corner.
Brentford were then handed a golden opportunity to win the game when Cunningham picked up two yellow cards in 70 seconds; the first for cynically stopping Daniel Bentley releasing the ball, and the second for a trip on Jozefzoon that left the referee with little choice.
But against ten men Brentford created little. Ollie Watkins fired just wide after Rudd failed to clear his lines, and the Preston keeper made a brilliant save to tip an Alan Judge free-kick onto the post to leave Dean Smith ruing a third straight game without a win.
He said: “Our performance didn’t get the three points that we deserved. We were the aggressors for the majority of the game, we kept it tight at the back.
“We actually started the second period really well and then unfortunately a great ball into the box and we ended up chasing the game. The ball deserved a goal and then we’re chasing.
“I can’t knock the players today, they worked very hard against a team that have only lost once since November and made Preston look second best.”