Preston North End vs Coventry City. Sky Bet Championship.
Deepdale.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Preston and Coventry at Deepdale as goals from Daniel Johnson and Sean Maguire in each half sealed a comfortable victory for North End.
Tuesday 29 December 2020 23:45, UK
Daniel Johnson and Sean Maguire were on target as Preston claimed a 2-0 Championship victory to extend their winning league run to three matches in their last fixture of the year against Coventry.
The Sky Blues, without a win at Deepdale since the turn of the century, entered the empty old stadium on one of the coldest nights of the year.
Not since 2013 had Coventry beaten Preston home or away and they started badly in their bid to address the record.
Tom Barkhuizen had a golden opportunity to find an oncoming colleague in the opening minutes but failed to execute.
It was no surprise that it was Johnson who opened the scoring, burying a close-range effort.
Barkhuizen robbed a dawdling Ben Sheaf in the penalty area and squared the ball to Johnson, who made no mistake with some work still to do.
Gustavo Hamer could have equalised moments later but he side-footed his shot from around the penalty spot straight at Declan Rudd.
Diminutive midfielder Hamer looked the most likely to either score or create something for the visitors. Stocky, and slippery on the ball, his knack of getting away from close markers created space for team-mates around him.
That his influence waned as the game progressed was potentially a reason for Coventry's blank.
But they started the second half with intent. Rudd had to be sharp to tip away a dangerous cross from Fankaty Dabo. Callum O'Hare then headed over from Ryan Giles' cross.
But it was Preston who extended their lead as Paul Gallagher's free-kick from the right caused chaos in the City six-yard box.
After a few seconds of blocked shots, blocked clearances and an old-fashioned goalmouth scramble, Maguire's toe-poke proved decisive.
The home side, who had won three of their last five at home, without ever looking unstoppable or expansive were efficiently getting the job done.
The Sky Blues exerted pressure in the last quarter-of-an-hour, winning several corners but with only a Leo Ostigard header over the crossbar to show for them.
Down the wings was the second-half plan for Coventry.
Dabo and substitute Sam McCallum whipped balls in at every opportunity but each one was dealt with by the sturdy Preston defence marshalled by the impressive Rudd.
Hamer tested Rudd again from range and the big stopper parried well protecting his team's clean sheet.
But ultimately Coventry will rue not creating enough clear-cut chances and allowing Preston to profit from their mistakes.
On a night where temperatures dipped below freezing, it was Preston who left their fans at home with a warm feeling as they earned maximum points.
Preston's Alex Neil: "It was pleasing. I think we've still not really hit top form as well in terms of how we can play. What we did do that we have been talking about is to keep more clean sheets. We've been conceding too many goals and I think the last three performances have been particularly strong. We looked more solid at the back, we conceded less opportunities and we defended well. I think for me I was frustrated in the first half.
"There are very few teams that come here and control the ball. We set up the same way as Coventry but they just did it better than us in the first half. To be honest, I didn't really feel we were going to lose the game at any point. I thought defensively we were solid and once the second goal went in they had to chase it and went two up top and that helped us even more."
Coventry's Mark Robins: "I feel frustrated and angry but there is a part of me that thinks we played some really good stuff and we've given the game away so we've got to stop giving goals away like we've done tonight. We haven't been like that for a long time and tonight we were on top in the game. We created a load of chances but looked like we wanted to try and score a perfect goal. We've opened them up a number of times.
"They couldn't live with us, we've played some good stuff and gave them their goal, which gave them a foothold in it. We kept going. Then we gave another poor goal away from a foul on the outside, Jamie Allen's foul. The ball comes in and we haven't defended it properly. It's a strange one because we should have won that game, it shouldn't have even been a draw."
