Preston North End vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
DeepdaleAttendance13,924.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Preston and West Brom at Deepdale as Emil Riis scores the winner for North End to pile further pressure on Steve Bruce on Wednesday night.
Thursday 6 October 2022 09:06, UK
Preston earned their first home win of the season with a 1-0 victory over West Brom, sending the Baggies tumbling into the Championship relegation zone to pile further pressure on under-fire manager Steve Bruce.
Striker Emil Riis was the matchwinner, the Dane's goal - only Preston's fourth of the campaign - earning Ryan Lowe's team a first victory in seven league matches at Deepdale this term.
For West Brom, the misery continues. The Baggies, with one win from 12 matches, sink to 22nd and two points from safety.
Bruce had highlighted the importance of curing a ruinous habit of conceding in the opening 15 minutes of games.
But, despite making six changes from the weekend defeat by Swansea, Bruce watched the visitors shoot themselves in the foot once more.
Preston had already tested Alex Palmer - the goalkeeper superbly beating away Sean Maguire's close-range header - when Riis broke through.
Ali McCann did the leg work, surging clear of Jayson Molumby in midfield to feed Alvaro Fernandez on the left.
Fernandez, the polished young Spaniard on loan from Manchester United, sent in a menacing low cross and it was Riis on the move, reducing West Brom's statuesque backline to spectators, to convert.
Staring at a familiar scenario - that is seven times in 12 league matches West Brom have fallen behind in the opening quarter of an hour - the away team tried to reply through Grady Diangana, who jinked into the box but shot past the far post.
Diangana was soon off target again after a smart one-two with Conor Townsend.
But it was the 43rd minute before Freddie Woodman was tested, the Preston goalkeeper taking off to his left to turn behind a Jed Wallace strike.
Preston had created a succession of openings.
Fernandez fed livewire Maguire for a 25-yard attempt that skipped wide from distance and Dara O'Shea blocked Robbie Brady's goalbound effort.
McCann came closer still with a strike that rattled Palmer's right post following a breathless Preston counter.
West Brom progressively pinned back the hosts following the restart, albeit miserly Preston were content to sit on their advantage.
There was a penalty shout from Diangana following a tumble in the box that fell on deaf ears.
And West Brom's renewed purpose resulted in the previously under-employed Woodman definitively earning his wage.
A save from substitute Tom Rogic after 66 minutes was straightforward, the substitute shooting tamely from six yards after the persevering Diangana's cut-back.
Woodman's reflex stop with his leg after Karlan Grant was threaded in on goal two minutes earlier, however, was outstanding.
Preston comfortably withstood West Brom's unconvincing late rally for a ninth clean sheet this season to climb four places to 11th.
But for Bruce, who has seen five of the 12 Championship bosses he's encountered since July lose their jobs, this was another wretched night.
Preston's Ryan Lowe: "I always believe we will score goals because of the way we play and we should have been 3-0 up at half-time. We could have scored more but we got one and got three points and can build on that. It isn't relief, because we are doing alright. The performances have been outstanding, we've just not been getting three points.
"He [Bruce] is a top guy and a top manager and sets his teams up well. In fairness, tonight they should have scored a couple of goals - but we were solid and resolute. Steve Bruce is a fantastic manager and long may it continue."
West Brom's Steve Bruce: "We are all judged on results and they haven't been good enough. I will do my utmost to turn it around. I still believe we are capable of going on a run with the players we have - but at the moment, everybody is finding it tough. That [my future] is for other people. I hope [I will still be in charge at the weekend], I still think I am the right one to turn it around.
"I have done it before, especially at this level, I am convinced [I am the right man]. I don't give up, not when it is tough. I don't have to do it. But I still get up in the morning and want to come to work. It still burns inside me, especially when it is like it is at the minute. But I hope I am given the time. If not, I fully understand I haven't been able to arrest a slide that has gone on for two-and-a-half years."
