Preston North End 2-1 Barnsley: Lilywhites win Ryan Lowe's first game as boss

Barnsley have never kept a clean sheet in an away league fixture at Preston North End

Preston North End's new boss Ryan Lowe started his reign with three points as his side beat Barnsley in the Championship.

Alan Browne's close-range strike opened the scoring for the Lilywhites, before Cauley Woodrow levelled the match with a header.

Daniel Johnson's neat finish restored the lead to delight the home crowd at Deepdale.

Victory saw Preston move up to 14th in the table, while Barnsley remain next to bottom, eight points from safety, and without a win since Poya Asbaghi took over as head coach.

Relive Saturday's EFL action

Lowe's players looked keen to impress their manager from the start as striker Emil Riis Jakobsen fired in a dangerous effort from the edge of the box which drifted narrowly wide.

The Tykes replied with a great chance of their own as Carlton Morris' header struck the crossbar from Woodrow's excellent cross.

Preston's Andrew Hughes and Sean Maguire then sent headers wide in quick succession, before team-mate Ben Whiteman saw his shot bounce into the ground and off target.

Barnsley pressed well after the break, with winger Clarke Oduor's shot saved when through on goal, and Woodrow's curling strike going wide.

Both sides were pushing for a winner and when Johnson supplied Browne from a Preston break, the Irishman burst forward with determination, and tucked the ball past keeper Brad Collins.

Eight minutes later, Woodrow nodded in from six yards to bring Barnsley level when he was first to react following Callum Brittain's volley.

It was Preston, though, who had the final word when Ryan Ledson rolled the ball into the area following a free-kick and Johnson was there to slot in.

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I thought the performance was fantastic, the way we played.

"It's always tough when a new manager comes into the building. The style of how I want to play, the lads have bought into straight away.

"We have shown them lots of clips over the past few days of how we go about our business.

"We could have done better in certain areas. I thought we defended fantastic, the counter-press was unbelievable."

Barnsley head coach Poya Asbaghi told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"Even though we had a good start, we hit the crossbar, I think Preston made their way into the game.

"We got back in and created chances as well so coming into half-time, we knew that if we could improve things, we could win this game.

"We conceded a goal - still early - but our reaction from that was still brilliant.

"Them getting the free-kick and using that in a good way was a massive blow for us."

Line-ups
Match Stats
Live Text

Line-ups

Preston

Formation 3-4-1-2

12Iversen
2van den Berg
5Bauer
16Hughes
13McCannSubstituted forLedsonat 69'minutes
8Browne
4Whiteman
32Earl
11JohnsonSubstituted forPottsat 90'minutes
24MaguireSubstituted forSinclairat 70'minutes
19Riis Jakobsen

Substitutes

3Cunningham
6Lindsay
15Rafferty
18Ledson
28Hudson
31Sinclair
44Potts

Barnsley

Formation 3-4-3

40Collins
30Helik
6AndersenBooked at 77mins
5Kitching
7Brittain
21Palmer
17Gomes
4StylesSubstituted forBensonat 84'minutes
22OduorSubstituted forLeya Isekaat 76'minutes
9WoodrowBooked at 27minsSubstituted forAdeboyejoat 84'minutes
14Morris

Substitutes

2Williams
10Benson
11Leya Iseka
13Jinadu
15Moon
26Vita
29Adeboyejo

Referee:: Keith Stroud
Attendance:: 11,106

Match Stats

Home TeamPrestonAway TeamBarnsley

Possession: Home60%; Away40%

Shots: Home16; Away13

Shots on Target: Home4; Away4

Corners: Home6; Away3

Fouls: Home11; Away8

Live Text

Post update
Match ends, Preston North End 2, Barnsley 1.
90'+6'
Full Time
Second Half ends, Preston North End 2, Barnsley 1.

90'+5'
Post update
Attempt missed. Ryan Ledson (Preston North End) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Scott Sinclair.
90'+4'
Post update
Corner, Preston North End. Conceded by Claudio Gomes.
90'+4'
Post update
Corner, Preston North End. Conceded by Michal Helik.
90'+2'
Post update
Attempt missed. Benjamin Whiteman (Preston North End) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right.
90'
Substitution
Substitution, Preston North End. Brad Potts replaces Daniel Johnson.
85'
Post update
Offside, Preston North End. Scott Sinclair tries a through ball, but Joshua Earl is caught offside.
84'
Substitution
Substitution, Barnsley. Victor Adeboyejo replaces Cauley Woodrow.
84'
Substitution
Substitution, Barnsley. Josh Benson replaces Callum Styles.
82'
Post update
Corner, Preston North End. Conceded by Bradley Collins.
82'
Post update
Attempt saved. Ryan Ledson (Preston North End) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Benjamin Whiteman.
78'
Goal!
Goal! Preston North End 2, Barnsley 1. Daniel Johnson (Preston North End) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Ryan Ledson following a set piece situation.
77'
Booking
Mads Andersen (Barnsley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
77'
Post update
Scott Sinclair (Preston North End) wins a free kick on the left wing.
77'
Post update
Foul by Mads Andersen (Barnsley).
76'
Substitution
Substitution, Barnsley. Aaron Leya Iseka replaces Clarke Oduor.
74'
Post update
Attempt blocked. Carlton Morris (Barnsley) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Cauley Woodrow.
73'
Post update
Attempt saved. Ryan Ledson (Preston North End) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Emil Riis Jakobsen.
71'
Post update
Offside, Preston North End. Patrick Bauer tries a through ball, but Scott Sinclair is caught offside.

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As It Stood

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Fulham	22	13	6	3	51	18	33	45
2	Bournemouth	22	12	7	3	37	19	18	43

3	West Brom	22	11	7	4	30	17	13	40
4	Blackburn	22	11	6	5	37	27	10	39
5	QPR	21	10	5	6	33	27	6	35
6	Stoke	22	10	5	7	26	21	5	35

7	Coventry	22	9	7	6	29	26	3	34
8	Nottm Forest	22	8	7	7	30	24	6	31
9	Middlesbrough	22	8	6	8	24	23	1	30
10	Huddersfield	22	8	6	8	25	25	0	30
11	Millwall	22	7	9	6	24	24	0	30
12	Luton	22	7	8	7	31	27	4	29
13	Sheff Utd	21	8	5	8	28	28	0	29
14	Preston	22	7	7	8	24	28	-4	28
15	Birmingham	22	7	6	9	22	26	-4	27
16	Swansea	22	7	6	9	26	31	-5	27
17	Blackpool	22	7	6	9	20	26	-6	27
18	Bristol City	22	7	6	9	24	32	-8	27
19	Hull	22	6	5	11	19	26	-7	23
20	Cardiff	22	6	4	12	25	39	-14	22
21	Reading	22	8	3	11	27	34	-7	21

22	Peterborough	22	5	4	13	19	41	-22	19
23	Barnsley	22	2	7	13	15	34	-19	13
24	Derby	22	5	10	7	18	21	-3	4

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Comments

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24 comments

Comment posted by Sir Tom Finney, at 18:15 11 Dec 2021
Good performance and result.

Will take a bit of time for Lowe to implement his style, but hopefully with time we can see further improvements.

DJ easily the Man of the Match.
Comment posted by Apollo 10, at 18:58 11 Dec 2021
Welcome to Deepdale Mr Lowe. COYW’s
Reply posted by Sir Tom Finney, at 19:43 11 Dec 2021
Sir Tom Finney replied:
and not forgetting Mike Marsh the new 1st team coach.

Think he will be an important cog in the chain of staff.
Comment posted by Sir Tom Finney, at 18:33 11 Dec 2021
Referees :

This is the first time in many months we have not had a horror of a referee!
Comment posted by Boxinghagler1980, at 18:26 11 Dec 2021
Only 7 points off the play offs, a big ask but you never know.
Comment posted by James_Autar, at 21:53 11 Dec 2021
Personally I thought we were a little lucky to take all 3 points. Barnsley hit the bar in the 1st half and outplayed us for long spells. A better 2nd half showing. Earl was poor again, giving the ball away time after time and reluctant to take on his man and too often passing the ball back. Riis had another indifferent game too and never looked like scoring. A few from Plymouth expected in Jan.
Reply posted by Sir Tom Finney, at 22:07 11 Dec 2021
Sir Tom Finney replied:
As I have already mentioned on here, Barnsley played well. They had spells of possession without dominating us.

Under Frankie, this game would have petered out to a draw, or we could have even lost. If we didn't have that positive intent, Johnson wouldn't have got into that position to score the winner. It wasn't luck, we fully deserved the 3 points.
Comment posted by franklyn, at 21:58 11 Dec 2021
Teams should change the manager every week
Comment posted by NorthEnd, at 19:42 11 Dec 2021
Hope Barnsley don’t go down - but great for RL to start with a win.
Comment posted by ray123, at 18:42 11 Dec 2021
Barnsley on the way down this league is far to big for this small club
Reply posted by John H, at 18:59 11 Dec 2021
John H replied:
After last season Barnsley are dead buried.Thats owners running a club on a shoestring with yet again a manager with no track record.
Comment posted by WVM, at 19:54 11 Dec 2021
TBH ......... that was a Frankie performance.
Glad it was Barnsley today anyone else and we would have been beaten
Reply posted by Sir Tom Finney, at 21:30 11 Dec 2021
Sir Tom Finney replied:
Jeez! The new manager has only been here a few days, give him a chance at least 7/8 games to put his mark.
Comment posted by basil, at 23:40 11 Dec 2021
It won’t last long,Lowe will be found out sooner or later,and I am NOT a Plymouth fan either
Reply posted by Sir Tom Finney, at 12:40 12 Dec 2021
Sir Tom Finney replied:
You sound like a bitter lasher.

What happened to your promotion charge ? Hahaha!