Ipswich Town vs Preston North End. Sky Bet Championship.
Portman RoadAttendance14,390.
Saturday 4 November 2017 18:39, UK
Ipswich climbed to seventh in the Championship table after condemning Preston to a fourth straight defeat in the Sky Bet Championship match at Portman Road.
A direct free-kick by Martyn Waghorn in first-half stoppage time, a David McGoldrick header and a wonder strike by Bersant Celina ensured victory for the hosts.
Ipswich won a free-kick in the second minute midway into the Preston half which was taken by Waghorn and following a goalmouth scramble McGoldrick headed over the bar. McGoldrick and Jordan Spence then combined down the right with the former's shot on goal deflecting for a corner.
The Portman Road crowd was getting restless with the continuing halt in play and in the 23rd minute, Jordan Hugill was booked by referee Andrew Madley for persistent fouling.
A minute later McGoldrick was also booked for arguing with the referee after netting from an offside position. In the 29th minute, Cole Skuse came off injured and was replaced by Kevin Bru and seven minutes later another injury, this time to Preston's Daniel Fisher, resulted in Marnick Vermijl replacing him.
A minute before half-time a foul on Waghorn on the edge of the penalty area, following neat play between him, McGoldrick and Bru, resulted in the Ipswich No 9 curling a left-footed shot past the Preston wall and into the net for the opening goal of the game. In injury time, Johnson curled a shot from outside the penalty area which struck the bar.
Ipswich started the second half brightly and in the 49th minute a cross from the right by Spence was headed home by McGoldrick. Spence provided another cross three minutes later which was flicked on by Bru only for Jonas Knudsen to head narrowly wide.
Good play wide right again in the 57th between Garner and McGoldrick resulted in Waghorn crossing for Knudsen to fire his shot just over the bar. In the 64th minute another move down the right, involving Spence and Celina, resulted in a wonderful strike from the Kosovo forward just inside the penalty area, who beat the Preston goalkeeper Chris Maxwell by firing into the roof of the net.
In the 84th minute Ben Pearson was booked for a comment he made to the referee and good play between McGoldrick and Garner resulted in a corner which was played to McGoldrick, whose shot was saved by the Preston keeper.
Mick McCarthy: "It was what was required. There are all sorts of different ways to win a football match. I have been in the Championship long enough to know that there's a team coming to play against us that's going to be pretty tough and resolute and that's what we were going have to be and it wasn't going to be pretty - the one bit of quality was the move before the goal.
"It was a really good move; Waggy won a free-kick and he dispatches it nicely...there was some entertainment in the second half. The second half we played well and it always looks better when you score three goals."
Alex Neil: "The first half was a scrappy game really. There was a five-to-10-minute spell where we put four or five good crosses into the box and looked threatening and I don't think they (Ipswich) had a shot at goal until that stage - and then it's a free-kick that they get.
"From that point it was really disappointing to go a goal down and I think it was really scrappy up to that point. We don't need to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves but our last two performances have been very disappointing. We have a smallish squad and now have nine players missing through injury - and we are being stretched to the limit."
