[themaclad]

Preston North End 1 Greenwood Bristol City 3 Hirakawa, Wells, Bird



Attendance: 14,261 (944 Bristol City fans).

Referee: Mr T Nield

Well, what a to do, City deserved to win, can't complain at that, although there was plenty to complain about the 102 minutes of action.
One down very early on, altough having seen the goal, in rugby terms it would have een disallowed having been knocked on, ball over the top, Storey made the mistake of allowing the ball too bounce before his poor header bsck to Woodman was intercepted by Hirawake, who then proceeded to forearm the ball past Woodman and roll it into the net. Disallowed well no, given, the muted pre match atmosphere suddenly went up many many notches and we had angry Deepdale which in a way is no bad thing.
The laid bck Dane Mads FJ received a booking for politely telling he referee he was wrong nd spent the next 15 minutes carrying on in the same vain.
The injustice did actually galvanise us, we were the better side, a brilliant tackle by McGuane denied Mads from close range after a rapid break down our left hand side.
It was noticeable evry time we having a period of play where we were on top a City player fell over in mysterious circumstances although two were injured, the others to be using manure to build an outhouse.
Angry Deepdale vented it's ire on the hapless official, very easy to book our lads in the first half.
Equalised early in the second period, free kick on the edge of the box, crap wall Greenwood found the gap and the net, level but not for long, City away down their right, McCann already on a yellow ducked out of a chllenge which would probably have led to anothet yellow, ball in from the right, Wells in acres of space header goes in, from then on in we faded sorry disappeared without a trace.
Having missed the handball for the first there was an even more blatant one on the touchline, he missed that as well.
A cross from City whizzed passed Woodman and Bird missed a sitter, although he made amends soo after when City cut through the defence.
We rallied a bit but never looked like pulling the difference back.
A shocker, defensively we were shocking, spent hours passing the ball along the back three going nowhere, midfield was non existant and Riis got zero service apart from that it was top notch.

THE BOSS
Paul Heckingbottom was frustrated with a major decision that went against North End and the manner of the goals his side conceded in the 3-1 defeat to Bristol City.

The visitors took the lead in controversial circumstances, as Yu Hirakawa handled the ball before tapping home into an empty net.

Sam Greenwood drew PNE level in the early stages of the second half, but the Robins quickly regained the lead and then scored again in the 81st minute to seal the victory.



Asked if he thought his side would kick on after the equaliser, Hecky said: “I think anyone who was at the game would have thought that. We were the better team in the first half and we started the second half well.

“We were really positive, scored that goal, but then we just continued to be a little bit frantic in those next few moments and we didn't defend that counter-attack well.

“That set their gameplan into motion. They defended really well. We didn't attack and create enough from our opportunities.

“I think from however many shots we had, 14 or 15, their ‘keeper didn't have enough saves to make, whereas they, in their five attempts, scored three goals from them and Freddie didn't have a save to make.

“That shows how clinical they were at one end. Of course, the decision frustrated us, but we got ourselves back in the game there. Even though it should have been 1-0 to us, it's 1-1 and I would have fancied us to go on.

“It just wasn't to be today. We didn't defend those two moments for the two goals well enough, and didn't do enough at the other end to win the game.”

The defeat was the first Championship loss at Deepdale since the opening night.


North End went into the clash with the Robins on the back of a five-game unbeaten run in the league, but Liam Manning's side brought that to an end and extended their own to eight matches.

“We're not used to losing,” said Hecky. “It's not a good feeling. We talked about taking the emotion out of it at half-time because when there's that much injustice against you it can really affect performance.

“I was pleased with how we continued in the first half and got back in the game second half.

“I would have thought that everyone that was in the stadium would have thought that once we scored we would be the favourites to go on.

“Credit to Bristol City for how they defended. We were disappointed with how we performed from that moment on.

“Although we didn't give them many opportunities on our goal, we didn't defend those two key moments well enough and we weren't good enough at either end to capitalise on our moments.”

Bristol City manager Liam Manning told BBC Radio Bristol:

“I am really pleased and really proud of the players today. It was not the prettiest game at times but we managed it quite well, especially with the changes we had to make.

“The lads showed what we are about in terms of problem solving, and the second and third goals were moments of real outstanding quality that deserved to win the game.

“We pressed well, and blocked well when we had to. It is a tough place to come, so it was real progress for me in terms of how far we have come, but we still have a way to go.

“The travelling support was phenomenal today, the way they got behind the lads was massive and delighted we can send them back home on a long journey happy.”