Preston North End 1-1 Leeds United: Jack Whatmough's late own goal salvages a point for Daniel Farke's Whites

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Preston North End and Leeds United at Deepdale on Saturday; Brad Potts' first-half goal put the hosts in front, but a late own goal from Jack Whatmough earned Daniel Farke's side a valuable point

Saturday 14 December 2024 15:56, UK

Jack Whatmough put through his own net right at the death to deny Preston a hard-fought victory over Leeds in the Sky Bet Championship.,

The 28-year-old came on to help preserve a point but prodded Dan James' cross into his own net in the 93rd minute, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

Brad Potts had bagged the 23rd-minute opener but it was not meant to be for the hosts, who battled hard until the end but just fell short against the promotion-chasing visitors.

Going into this, Leeds had only won three of their first nine matches on the road while Preston had only lost one home league game under Paul Heckingbottom so it should not have been a surprise when the Lilywhites went ahead.

Milutin Osmajic did brilliantly well to spin Pascal Struijk in the centre of the pitch before storming down the wing and bending a sensational ball to the back post for Potts, whose first-time finish had just enough on it to squeeze past Illan Meslier.

Leeds should have had a quickfire response just five minutes later but Brenden Aaronson fired high and wide with the goal gaping after latching onto a deft flick by Sam Byram.

Controversy struck in the 36th minute as Ben Whiteman, who received a booking for clipping down Aaronson, avoided a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Jayden Bogle in front of the Leeds supporters.

The visitors had to wait until first-half stoppage time for their next decent opportunity with Byram unable to head James' teasing delivery on target.

With the hour approaching, Wilfried Gnonto teed up Ao Tanaka perfectly in the centre of the box but Freddie Woodman managed to block the midfielder's fairly tame effort and Joe Rothwell skewed the ball over the top as Preston struggled to clear their lines.

Preston were happy to sit in and frustrate the visitors but nearly doubled their lead in the 62nd minute as substitute Emil Riis headed Potts' cross straight at Meslier with the Leeds defence all at sea.

Daniel Farke brought on Patrick Bamford to try and find the goalscoring touch and the 31-year-old ought to have done just that in the 69th minute but he flicked wide from a matter of yards out after more brilliant play from James.

The former Manchester United winger, who was Leeds' player of the afternoon, rattled the bar soon after with a ferocious 25-yard strike.

So it was no surprise when he created the equaliser right at the death, fizzing a low ball across the box that Whatmough stabbed into his own net, under pressure from substitute Mateo Joseph.

The managers

Preston's Paul Heckingbottom:

"It's frustrating because of the timing of the goal.

"We know it was a late goal. For the way the players defended, it's sickening but Leeds threw everything at us and we had to stand strong. We did [stand strong], Freddie [Woodman] had to deal with things from about 25-to-30 yards and any cross in the box we dealt with.

"The goal is probably what Leeds needed today to beat us. It was a messy goal, unfortunate from our point of view, but you have to give them credit for the way they've stuck at it.

"Performance wise, anybody watching us [will not be able to understand] how we've not won games. Looking at our average of xG and xG against, we've been outperforming Sheffield United who are at the top of the league.

"[Osmajic's] pass [for the goal] was unbelievable. You can see the opportunities and positions that we got into in the second half and what let us down was the final pass so we didn't get any more efforts of quality on Leeds' goal in the second half."

Leeds' Daniel Farke:

"If you can't win it then you have to make sure you don't lose it. When you see the story of the game, we didn't start that well until the final 20 minutes or whatever as we tried to push for the equaliser. They were defending really well.

"To score the goal in added time, also in this way, after we took so much risk and made so many changes in the game feels like a valuable and priceless point, especially in an away game.

"It's a good point on the board in a tough place. I think Preston defended really well.

"I think we started a bit slow because we were pushing to create chances and push them back. But we allowed them to have one chance and sometimes one chance can be decisive.

"When we lost the ball on the edge of the other box, our counter-pressing and our willingness to sprint back to defend the counter could have been better.

"I was not pleased with the first 20 minutes but I was pleased with how we reacted."