After a 94th minute equaliser on Monday robbed Preston of the three points at Stevenage, Preston managed to hold on to a 1-0 win today despite intense Huddersfield pressure in 4 minutes of stoppage time and despite losing both Iain Hume and Paul Parry in quick succession just before half time Preston were not hampered by losing two key players and if anything we played better after they had to go off. The second half was one of the best performances I have seen from Preston this season as we made Huddersfield look very poor and could have got more than just the solitary goal with Chris Holroyd volleying against the post (first half) and a Danny Mayor shot well blocked when it was destined to hit the back of the net.
Danny Mayor had his best game in a Preston shirt today as he completely destroyed Jack Hunt on the wing and was unlucky not to get at least 2 goals to go with his assist for Robertson when he surged into the penalty area and laid the ball on a plate for Robertson to score his first for the club. Mayor has come on leaps and bounds since Westley has arrived as manager and is now one of our more important players in the team as he is not afraid of taking on players and getting a shot away which is something Preston have badly missed when he hasn't played and the fact that the last 3 Preston goals have all been Mayor assists shows how much he is now an integral part of the team and he is starting to weigh in with a few goals like the rocket against Hartlepool on Valentines Day which will no doubt be a contender for goal of the season. His workrate is second to none and he is improving game by game and I have no doubt he will be a key player for us next season as we aim at promotion at the second attempt.
In the last three games Preston have played the teams 4th, 5th and 9th and come out with a very respectable 5 points, and had it not been for a last gasp goal at the Lamex this could very easily have been 7 which would have been what Preston deserved given the improvement in performances since the horrendous Brentord and Sheffield Wednesday double header which was where I believed the club hit rock bottom. However in the fall out after the 2-0 defeat at Hillsborough it seems something significant happened as from then on performances have been on the up starting with the 1-1 draw against MK Dons last weekend. A few weeks ago when we were giving dismal performances against the likes of Chesterfield and Tranmere. While the three teams arent in the best of forms at the moment, MK easily won 3-0 at Scunthorpe today and Stevenage thrashed Yeovil 6-0 at Hulsh Park so the fact we got results against them two shows that progress is being made at the club, which when it seems Westley could have been sacked after the Brentford game, at least shows that he's starting to get the fans back on side again.
Next Saturday Preston make the short journey south-east to Greater Manchester to play Oldham Athletic. Oldham have had a poor season and lie only a few places outside the relegation zone but should be safe and will be a League One team again next season, this is Prestons penultimate away game of the season and it has been designated Thorsten Stuckmann day in tribute to the big German keeper who has made a massive impact since arriving in November, the fact that he has kept 11 clean sheets in 31 games which is a very impressive record considering Preston were conceding on average 2 goals a game before his arrival and you have to wonder where we would be had we not signed him, but then had we signed him in the summer instead of Turner we could easily be a top 10 team and chasing the play offs at the moment. But at the very least the Preston oil tanker is starting to turn around and hopefully a win on Saturday can get Preston into the top half and finishing in the top half at the end of the season wouldn't be a bad result considering the problems we have had this season and then we can build in the summer towards a promotion push next season.
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