[themaclad]

Blackburn Rovers 1 Szmodics Preston North End 2 Browne, Lindsay

Blackburn Rovers line-up: Wahlstedt; Travis, Hill, S.Wharton, Brittain; A.Wharton, Tronstad; Sigurðsson (Leonard, 78), Dolan (Markanday, 78), Moran; Szmodics. Subs not used: Hilton, Ennis, Gamble, Batty, Garrett, Atcheson, Telalovic.

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Best; Potts, Whiteman, Browne, Millar (Brady, 69); Holmes (Frøkjær, 69); Keane (Evans, 61), Osmajić. Subs not used: Cornell, Bauer, Stewart, Ledson, Woodburn, Mawene.

Attendance: 20,596 (5,789 PNE fans).

Referee: Mr T Bramall.

A day which started with me dropping a pint of milk ended with North End being the cream of Lancashire, with a victory over the only other Lancashire team in the league. Nightmare journey forgot how bad traffic is at rush hour on a Friday night. Parked up in Darwen near the wonderfully named Yip's chips and walked the mile or so down the road to a place still stuck in the 14th century.
Full away end which saw a frenetic opening which both sides could have scored, defensively we were not great all night and scrambled away, whilst Holmes had an effort blocked after good work by Osmajic.
Rovers were getting in behind our back four too easily and Dolan did just that and his cross should have been buried by Sigurosson but he volleyed against the bar, the woodwork at the Darwen end would get a battering again three more times.
Did well to keep Rovers out and then took the lead, Holmes to Potts, cross field ball to Browne, his control of the cross was outstanding and no keeper was saving that shot, possibly gainst the run of play but that's the way it goes.
Rovers unlucky not to level Moran's shot hitting the bar. Half time in the lead probably fortunate.

First ten minutes of the second half we were all over the shop Szmodics got in behind the defence, Woodman badly positioned Rovers level, same move a couple of minutes later he is in behind the defence again, this time the keeper is in a better position and saves it. Hanging on we manage to get through the siege and then on the hour came the change which probably won us the game.
On came Evans by which time the woodwork had been hit again this time by Holmes, the frontman made a difference won tackles held the ball up and brought players into play, Frokjaer also made a difference and showed that he is getting to grips with the English game.
The woodwork was hit again this time by Osmajic although wouldn't have counted as he was offside.
Down the other end Sigurosson was inches away from connecting with a cross but the winner was to come at the other end, corner not fully cleared, Frokjaer headed the ball to Browne who found Whiteman, chip into the box and Lindsay wanted it more than their lad and in it went, bedlam in the away end, survived the six minutes of injury time to be Pride of Lancashire

All that was left was Mr Fantastic's fist pumps to the away end

Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"We're extremely disappointed to lose the game. I don't think we deserved to lose the game, if you look at our overall performance.

"We were the better team and created more chances than the opponent. We were probably lacking clear chances in the final third and runs in behind - when we did that, we created chances immediately.

"We should have done that better in the first half, but we still hit the bar twice in that first half."

On Szmodics: "He's doing great. He's one of the oldest boys, at 28, but he's also playing like a senior player, helping the team and scoring goals, working hard."

Preston manager Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"When you're winning derbies, you're always going to enjoy it. The lads were fantastic.

"We had to deal with large parts of their pressure, and how they play - they're a good footballing team, but we withstood all that.

"I'm disappointed with the goal [conceded] but the lads showed real character and desire, a never-say-die attitude, and to score the winner in front of our fans, in stoppage time, it probably can't get much better.

"We're a strong, resolute team that can overpower some teams, and I think we saw that with the [winning] goal. As long as they keep giving everything, we will win a lot of games."

On Browne's goal: "It's a fantastic goal. I see that on a daily basis in training. Pottsy can hit those balls and Browney can take those balls down out of the sky and finish them. Not just him, but other players in general.

"If there's a goal like that in the Premier League tomorrow, you'd be talking about it for weeks."