A point to prove

Preston's unbeaten run continued to 4 games after a 1-1 draw away to Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park. Robbie Simpson looked to have given the home side the three points after drilling a header past Stuckmann on 70 minutes, but a first goal from Chris Holroyd 10 minutes later ensured that the points were shared and it could have been three points for the visiting team but Chuks Aneke narrowly headed over from a 94th minute corner which proved to be the last action of the game.

It would be fair to say the game wasn't the greatest spectacle with the pitch proving a massive obstacle to both teams as the ball bobbled and bounced around thwarting any attempts at fluid football which negatively influenced players like Coutts and Mayor from having a big impact in the game. However this didn't stop Mayor who got his fourth assist in four games to lift the ball from the touchline for Holroyd to head home from two yards out with only 11 minutes left on the clock. The goal was no less than he deserved with his tireless work rate and commitment finally bearing fruit after hitting the woodwork three times in recent weeks and on Saturday he finally got what he deserved, he was unlucky not to score in the first half where a fine 20 yard shot was turned round the post by Dean Bouzanis in the Oldham goal. Craig Morgan almost gave Preston the lead moments later when his header from a corner narrowly missed the posts and perhaps he should have done better given that he was unmarked. These were the only notable moments from a first half where Preston were comfortable with Oldham rarely threatening apart from the occasional foray into the North End half with Thorsten Stuckmann rarely threatened in the North End goal.

The game had the end of season feel with neither team having much to play for even though at the start of the game neither side was mathematically safe, but it would have taken a miracle for either side to go down and at the end of the game it was confirmed that both Preston and Oldham would be playing League One football next season. The Oldham goal came from a free kick where Simpson rose highest with a bullet header into the corner of the net. This will raise questions about our set piece organisation but thankfully it was the only moment where the side's defence was breached, but both Westley and the fans will think that that was one time too many as far as we're concerned and it's something which will be improved for the future.

After the Brentford game many people were calling for Westley to be sacked and some were calling for Unsworth and Alexander to return as managers. However, since the 2-0 defeat at Hillsborough on 31st March, Preston have gone unbeaten in 4, scoring in every game (albeit only once) and the level of performance has risen. It's also the longest unbeaten run since the 8 game streak in August/September. These have been against decent teams as well, especially MK Dons and Huddersfield who have picked up form recently. While one swallow doesn't make a summer and there is still a lot of work to do ahead, it is good to see that performances have picked up and any relegation fears were well and truly banished. It is also obvious that Westley will be given time to sort things out which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, we cannot keep sacking managers at the rate we have been doing and I think patience will pay off in the long term and I think some evidence of that has been in the last 4 games. Defensively we are still improving with Wright looked a strong player at left back despite not being in his natural position at such a young age while Morgan and Robertson are looking to be a strong partnership at centre back which is promising for next season as both are on multi year contracts as Morgan was signed on a 4 year deal back in 2010.

On Saturday Preston play host to Charlton Athletic who recently confirmed their promotion to the Championship and became champions of league one on Saturday (featuring loanee Darel Russell as well). This will be the biggest test of the recent upturn in form as the visitors are in formidable form and are by far and away the best team in the league and really they shouldn't have been in this league in the first place but for various reasons a few years ago. The fact that even Charlton didn't bounce back at the first time of asking either will provide encouragement to Preston that even big teams struggle early on, and Charlton manager Chris Powell also had a disastrous start to his time in charge at Charlton with 11 games without a win at one point with Charlton slipping from the play offs to mid table. But a massive summer clear out paid off with Charlton storming the league this season. With a summer clearout of a similar scale planned at Deepdale it shows that Westley can get it right with the right moves in the summer and I am confident that Preston can achieve similar results next season.