A bit of the Wright stuff

After weeks of mediocrity it's nice to finally write a positive blog after Preston deservedly drew with promotion pushing MK Dons at Deepdale on a day where it was all about Sir Tom Finney who recently turned 90 and while Preston were not able to get all three points, a stoppage time equaliser from young Bailey Wright would have been the perfect birthday present to cap off a performance where Preston outplayed MK Dons for long periods of the game and were unlucky to only score the one goal.

There must be something about MK Dons that brings a good performance from Preston as once again we stepped up a long way from recent defeats to Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday to match a very good footballing side and the fact that they had to resort to hoofball to try and get the decisive goal. A draw was no less than Preston deserved as we started to look more threatening going forward but the final killer ball was still lacking and it seemed that it would be costly until a free kick in the 90th minute and a marauding run by none other than Thorsten Stuckmann caused havoc in the penalty area and Bailey Wright was on hand to put the ball in the net from close range to ensure the spoils were set. It could have got even better for the Lilywhites as Preston continued to push forward after the goal but in the end both teams settled for a point and something that will be a big morale boost to the team and Westley.

Danny Mayor made his first start for nearly a month and he was a player who Preston have missed in recent weeks, while he was a bit rusty having been out injured, his pace and creativity caused MK problems and they had to double up on him to try and nullify his effect. Danny has come on leaps and bounds in the last year and has gone from a bit part player to one of the more important players in the team and he and Parry linked up well on the left wing despite Danny being a right footed player. While he still needs to work on balls across the area when he's near the touchline, but he delivered some dangerous set pieces and it was his free kick that led to Preston's equalising goal. It is clear that despite an uncertain start, Mayor has a lot of talent and with the right teaching he could be a leading star in the Preston team in the future and certainly could be a Championship standard winger in the not too distant future.

I noticed a few things about Westley's tactics today which were a marked difference than what he has been using in recent weeks and I would say it was an improvement. The big difference was that when MK Dons had deep free kicks we actually kept 2 players forward on the halfway line, a lot of fans including myself have been screaming for this ever since Westley arrived as manager and it is a relief to finally see this being implemented, ironically it was MK who kept everyone back for set pieces and if ever there was proof that this doesnt work it was that our goal came from a set piece. Also there was almost no sign of any hoofball as Stuckmann would often roll the ball out to the defenders and playing the ball forward on the floor, it meant we kept hold of possession more efficiently and probed at the MK Dons defence and in fairness we caused them a lot of problems, it was only the quality of the final ball that let us down but that is something that can be worked on in training. It is also fair to say that Chris Holroyd had his best game since arriving at the club in January, in his favoured position of striker up front with Iain Hume he tirelessly worked away up front and was really unlucky not to score as a 20 yard shot was well saved and a header from a corner bounced back off the crossbar. I think with time (and a good pre season) he will be a solid striker next season and he looked like he was forming a strong partnership with Hume which I hope will be continued on Monday afternoon.

On Monday Preston travel to Stevenage where Graham Westley will return to the club where he achieved consecutive promotions from the Blue Square Premier to League One and had them in Play Off contention until he left to join Preston in January. Since Westley left the Hertfordshire club they have been in very poor form and have only won a handful of games since the change of management. However, it won't be just the management team which will be returning to old territory. On loan Chuks Aneke had a loan spell at Stevenage earlier this season (he actually came on as a sub for them at Deepdale in December) and Chris Holroyd had a loan spell with them not so long ago where he had a purple patch with 6 goals in 12 games. It will certainly be an interesting game and hopefully a good day out for myself as well, and a victory for Preston would see us get past the 50 point mark which would pretty much guarantee safety which would be a relief considering the poor results recently.