Preston North End 1-1 Oxford United: Will Keane earns point for Lilywhites

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Preston North End and Oxford United at Deepdale on Saturday; Will Keane strikes to earn point for Paul Heckingbottom's Lilywhites.

Saturday 4 January 2025 18:41, UK

Will Keane spared Freddie Woodman's blushes as Preston battled to a 1-1 draw against Oxford in the Championship.

The North End goalkeeper's miscued pass allowed Ruben Rodrigues to put Oxford ahead after 21 minutes before Keane's 69th-minute leveller.

Gary Rowett came into this fixture with nine points out of nine from his first three matches as Oxford manager but the U's were second best for large periods at Deepdale and were lucky to leave with a point.

Sam Greenwood nearly opened the scoring in the sixth minute for Preston, spinning in the centre of the pitch brilliantly after latching on to a pass from Andrew Hughes before forcing goalkeeper Jamie Cumming into a save with a low 25-yard drive.

Kaine Kesler-Hayden also forced Cumming into a diving save 10 minutes later with a well-placed effort after weaving past two challenges to get into the box.

Preston's early joy continued as Greenwood latched on to Kesler-Hayden's cross-field pass with acres of space to run into but the Leeds loanee's ball across the six-yard box was ballooned over the bar by Keane.

Oxford were hanging in there and could not believe their luck as Woodman passed the ball straight to Rodrigues, who kept his nerve to score his second goal in a week and put the visitors ahead with their first - and only - shot of the opening half.

Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom would have been seething but his players bounced back with a flurry of opportunities in quick succession.

In the 33rd minute, Liam Lindsay got too much elevation with his header from Greenwood's delivery to the near post and, just a couple of minutes later, Keane thumped wide from the corner of the six-yard box after bringing Duane Holmes' low cross under his control.

With half-time on the horizon, Holmes played Emil Riis in behind the Oxford defence but the Dane's finish was too close to Cumming.

Oxford came out in the second period with more discipline and organisation.

And they forced Woodman into his first save of the match with the hour mark approaching, although it was routine pickings for the Preston keeper as he gathered Tyler Goodrham's curling effort from just outside the box.

Life looked to be seeping out of the Preston tank but the impressive 30-year-old Holmes was finally rewarded for his creative endeavours throughout first half, standing a ball up to the back post where Keane ghosted in to nod home a deserved equaliser.

The managers

Preston's Paul Heckingbottom:

"The rest of the players gave it away more than Freddie today but he passes it and it's a goal from the area of the pitch. He's just not seen the player. It's as simple as that.

"We were wasteful. We know how well they've been doing and we know how well Gary (Rowett) can organise his teams.

"We've had 12 or 13 shots in the first half and we had six or seven really good chances and it was really good play against a team that are organised.

"We were prepared for the game. It was more of the same message at half-time.

"They were only going to make it more difficult for us in the second half in terms of denying the space and slowing the game down because they had something to hold on to but we were prepared for that."

Oxford's Gary Rowett:

"We looked leggy. We looked physically like it was our fourth game without making many changes.

"I did think it was a gamble to try and keep that continuity and Preston started the game very well.

"They tried to drag us out of some of those little pockets and whenever our centre-half or our central-midfielder got dragged off, they just started to exploit the space in between and I thought they did it very well and, quite frankly, to come in at half-time 1-0 up was rather fortunate shall we say.

"If we had been 2-0 down, I couldn't have complained massively but as it was, it was a well-worked goal."