Bluebirds claw it back
By LINDSAY SUTTON at Deepdale
A SECOND-HALF fightback by Cardiff chalked up a vital victory for new boss Steve Morison – despite falling behind after two minutes.
Striker Sean Maguire gave Preston a shellshock start as he tapped home from close range for his fourth goal of the season.
Cardiff’s near-1,000 following feared the worst as their men struggled to contain rampant Preston, badly missing the menace of injured Kieffer Moore up front, and with two youngsters making their first career starts, in the form of Chanka Zimba and Isaak Davies.
But two first strikes of the season for Mark Mcguinness and substitute James Collins saw Cardiff lead an improbable recovery to put North End under the cosh for much of the second half.
Morison was delighted to pick his seventh point in four games in charge – and revealed that keeping back the experienced Collins was his key strategy.
He said: “I told James I planned to use him as a second-half sub to use his experience, and it worked. You could see from his first touch that he would give us that missing element. I had to use our youngsters, especially after our decision not to risk Kieffer Moore with his knock. Full marks to everyone. We kept at it and fought back well.”
Preston boss Frankie Mcavoy was “bitterly, bitterly disappointed” at the result, and he agreed with the Cardiff boss about the impact of Collins.
He admitted: “Putting on Collins made a huge difference. He had the quality and they were more direct after his introduction.
“But we have to be better at defending from set-pieces. We knew Cardiff would make it more difficult from set plays, and so it proved.”
Yet Preston set off like an express train and went ahead following a goalmouth scramble, as Maguire grabbed his chance from close in.
The Bluebirds settled enough to threaten with an Aden Flint effort going close – but when Zimba went down in the box, their penalty appeal was rejected.
Then came the fightback, led by Mcguinnness who put home a fine header to score only his second career goal. The tireless and classy Ryan Giles set up former Luton man Collins for a header that did the trick for Cardiff, and for Morison.
PRESTON: Iversen 6; Van Den Berg, Bauer, Hughes; Barkhuizen, Ledson 6 (Sinclair 68, 6), Mccann 7, Cunningham 6 (Earl 68, 6), Browne 8; Maguire 7 (Johnson 77, 5), Riis 7.
Subs not used: Hudson, Lindsay, Storey, Potts.
CARDIFF: Smithies 8; Mcguiness 7, Flint 6, Nelson 5; Ng 6, Pack 7, Vaulks 7, Giles 7; Colwill 6 (Bacuna 88, 5), Davies 6 (Harris 62, 6), Zimba 5 (Collins 45, 7). Subs not used: Phillips, Morrison, Sang, Brown.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Cardiff’s on-loan man Ryan Giles worked his socks off, and set up the winner.
REFEREE: Leigh Doughty 6.