- Pressure heaped on West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Bruce.
- Baggies dropped into the relegation spots as a result of their loss against Preston North End.
- Lilywhites made it clear they intended to increase their meager total.
West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Bruce came under further criticism after the Baggies dropped into the relegation spots as a result of their loss against Preston North End.
Alvaro Fernandez, on loan from Manchester United, sent in a beautiful cross that was met by Emil Riis, who scored the first goal for the home team.
Prior to the Baggies’ visit, Preston had only scored once in six home games, but they earned the lead following a quick start that saw Sean Maguire challenge Alex Palmer and Alistair McCann have a follow-up attempt cleared off the line.
The best save made by Lilywhites goalkeeper Freddie Woodman came in the second half when he stopped Karlan Grant, ending Bruce’s Baggies’ winning streak of eight games across all competitions.
Bruce has spoken about the necessity to keep “beating away” in order to improve results. Since taking over for Valerien Ismael at The Hawthorns in February, he has supervised just eight victories out of 31 games.
The team travelled to Preston, which has lost its previous six home games and only three goals in its previous 11 league games, with the ex-Newcastle United, Aston Villa, and Birmingham City manager making six changes from the team that lost to Swansea on Saturday.
Early on, the Lilywhites made it clear they intended to increase their meager total. Maguire forced a strong save from Baggies goalkeeper Palmer, who was making his maiden league debut at the age of 26, before McCann was denied the rebound.
In the seventh minute, Riis gave Preston the lead with a well-placed finish, and they had more chances to score before halftime when McCann’s attempt hit the post and Maguire sent a shot just wide on the turn from beyond the box.
West Brom had to wait until the 43rd minute for their first chance on goal, with Jed Wallace testing Woodman before John Swift did the same a minute later. Grady Diangana’s attempt to quickly answer Riis’ strike was just off target.
Preston’s four-game losing streak was finally broken thanks in large part to Woodman, who first dealt with a poor effort from Tom Rogic before making a great save from Grant after Swift had set the striker open on goal.
