By Alex Atkinson -
PNEfans.net
A tale of
two half's!
Ipswich
Town 2-3 Preston North End
It was a tale of two half’s at Portman Road for Preston
North End tonight. Paul Simpson’s men put in tremendous second
half display to come away with all three points.
North End made the long trip down to Ipswich on the back of emphatic
victory over Sunderland at the weekend. Paul Simpson named the
same starting eleven that started against the Black cats. Patrick
Agyemang missed out again through a niggling injury that the inform
striker picked up at Stoke City. Brett Ormerod and Callum Davidson
kept their position on the bench after their return from injury.
Things didn’t start well for North End, Ipswich putting
the yellows under all sorts of pressure from the off. Preston was
getting hounded at the back, which led to Matt Hill giving away
a stone wall penalty, upending Mark Noble after ten minutes played.
Former North End hero Jon Macken stepped up to take the spot kick,
slotting the ball to Carlo Nash’s right hand side. Preston
didn’t take to the opening goal well, failing to put the
home side under any pressure.
Things went from bad to worse, North End
falling behind by two goals. Alan Lee rose higher that Liam Chilvers
to head home Ipswich’s
second goal from close range. North End looked dead and buried.
Paul Simpson’s men couldn’t wait till half time. Simpson
must have given the Preston players some grief at half time, which
did just the trick!
North End looked a different side after the interval, attacking
from the off, looking to find some way back into the match. David
Nugent who had been relatively quiet during the first half used
his strikers instinct to pounce on a poor headed back pass from
the Ipswich defence. Nugent said thank you very much and tapped
the ball home, collected the ball and headed back to the centre
spot.
Nugent’s goal lifted the whole team!
North End had only one thing on their mind, three points. Liam
Chilvers put Preston
right back in the thick of it, grabbing an equalising goal. Graham
Alexander floated a free kick into the box from the half way line.
Chilvers climbed the highest to power home a header, 2-2. North
now looked the most likely team to take three points.
The comeback was completed on 65 minutes. Simon Whaley went on
a mazy run down the left wing, the inform winger cut inside on
his right foot to blast the ball past Lewis Price from all of 25
yards. The 200 North End fans were sent into raptures! North End
went on to boss the match from here on in.
Brett Ormerod came on for David Nugent who picked up another booking
and looks set to miss the match against Burnley and Leeds matches.
Ormerod was guilty of missing a couple of guilt edge chances. Ormerod,
only just back from injury seemed to be lacking match fitness.
Paul McKenna hit the bar in the final minutes of the match, from
45 yards.
Paul Simpson’s battling Preston team held on for another
fabulous win at Portman Road. The victory was slightly marred by
Nugent’s booking, not taking anything away from an excellent
second half performance. North End are now placed nicely in 2nd
spot in the Championship with 23 points, 6 behind Cardiff City
whom lead the way.
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