If Preston North End are to escape their relegation troubles then they are going to have to battle and scrap for every point and that's exactly what they did against a Coventry City side who knew that a defeat would drag them into the relegation mire.
The Lilywhites had a man-of-the-match performance from Sean St. Ledger to thank for the three points. The rookie cente-half grabbed the only goal of the game as he stooped to power home a cleverly worked set-piece in the 21st minute of the game and then he helped organise a defensive rearguard which kept Iain Dowie's side to the bare minimum. The one time that Coventry did get a clear strike on goal and Andy Lonergan was at his superb best to send out a warning signal to the newly arrived Polish keeper, a clean sheet followed which meant that Lonergan's handywork had once again helped PNE to the three points.
North End boss Alan Irvine made three changes to the side which had narrowly lost to Norwich the previous Saturday. Two of them enforced by injury with Callum Davidson and Lewis Neal sitting out the game with thigh and hamstring strains respectively, Chris Brown also came into the side in attack at the expense of Neil Mellor and Barnes' barnstorming display in attack helped unsettle the Sky Blues defence for the majority of the game and helpled Karl Hawley to get back to his terrier-like work.
Four minutes into the game and Darren Carter got himself an early sight at goal but he dragged his shot wide of the target from 25-yards out.~
A well worked move in the 12th minute saw Carter unleash an effort once again. This time his strike came from a Paul McKenna free-kick which was floated towards the edge of the box, Chris Brown nodded the ball out to Carter who appeared from nowhere on the edge of the box to volley a low effort towards goal.
Liam Chilvers was called into evasive action right in front of his own goal on 14 minutes when Michael Doyle was given the freedom of Deepdale down the left flank, he flashed the ball across goal and somehow the ball bounced up into the air and onto the roof of the net after deflecting off what looked like Chilvers' knee.
Preston North End hit the front in the 21st minute of the game. It was a set-piece move, one very similar to the one which brought Youl Mawene a goal against West Brom in the previous home game. Carter played a neat one-two with McKenna from a corner kick and Carter delivered an inch perfect ball to the back post where Sean St. Ledger arrived late to power the header past Konstantopoulos in goal for the Sky Blues.
Alan Irvine's side clearly gained a lot of confidence from the opener and when Chris Brown beat the offside trap on the right it was a real case of three-on-three. Brown sprinted down the right with the ball at his feet and with Hawley and Whaley lurking in the middle it just required a pin-point pass into the box, unfortunately Brown's ball along the ground was easily dealt with by the Coventry defence.
Great football from North End two minutes before the break almost brought the second goal of the game. Chris Brown got a second bite of the cherry when Matt Hill played a ball up to him at chest height and he played a wonderfully crafted ball in-between the full-back and centre-half on the left channel, Whaley was on to it like a flash and goalside of the defence he should have done better when he side-footed a shot towards goal, the Coventry keeper diverted the ball behind for a corner. From the corner-kick Billy Jones made a nuisance of himself inside the six-yard box before the ball arrived at the edge of the box for Whaley to smash a volley wide of the bar.
Andy Lonergan had to be at his brilliant best once again three minutes after the break. Leon Best scrambled his way to the edge of the North End box and letting rip with an effort that looked destined to burst the back of the PNE net, that was before the Preston stopper stuck out an arm to deflect the ball over the bar.
Preston hit back with decent chance of their own on 54 minutes when Hawley's persistence and patience down the left-flank saw him play the perfectly weighted pass inside to Whaley who needed no invitation to shoot and he smashed a shot towards Konstantopoulos' near post. The keeper looked to have it covered as it flew into the side-netting.
There was an almighty scramble in front of the North End goal on the hour mark after the Sky Blues had won a corner in dubious circumstances after Mifsud looked to be well offside. The corner from the left was put right into the mixer and at least seven or eight players had a swipe at the ball before the referee spotted a nudge in a PNE defender's back, much to the relief of all Preston connections.
The game turned into something of an arm-wrestle midway through the second half with both teams trying to stamp their authority on the game. Coventry were trying to do the pressurising whilst the Lilywhites seemed happy to absorb that pressure and try and hit the visitors on the break.
The hosts were given some respite on 73 minutes when Chris Sedgwick won a free-kick deep into Coventry territory. Paul McKenna delivered the free-kick into the box and it was great delivery, right on the money, Sean St. Ledger met the ball almost perfectly, too perfect perhaps as his header sailed straight into the middle of the goal and the Sky Blues keeper had an easy save to make.
North End boss Alan Irvine threw the substitutes on late in the game, Ormerod and Mellor coming on for the hardworking duo of Brown and Hawley and that new energy in attack looked to have settled the Lilywhites down as Coventry subjected Preston to some late pressure.
As expected it was a nervy last few minutes of the game for the home supporters but the delight was clear to be seen on all of their faces when referee Mike Pike blew the full-time whistle after the alloted three minutes of injury time.
