Jordan Hugill was left baffled by Huddersfield Town’s late winner as Preston North End went down 3-2 at the John Smith’s stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Lilywhites looked to be well on their way to earning a point against the Championship’s third-placed side thanks to Hugill’s headed equaliser ten minutes from time, but the striker had a controversial penalty awarded against him deep into stoppage time.
Chris Maxwell stopped Aaron Mooy’s spot-kick but Collin Quaner tucked in the rebound to win it for the Terriers.
“I’ve seen it back and it doesn’t look like anything happened or that I did anything and that’s because I haven’t done anything.” Hugill told PNE PlayerHD after the game. “It’s all on the video so I can’t really say much more about it, just that it’s unlucky.
“I don’t even know how to describe it. It was credit to Maxi [Chris Maxwell], he’s calmed everything down and made that save for the penalty but unfortunately, one of their lads has got on the end of it and Greg [Cunningham] couldn’t quite get there. But credit to Maxi for making the save, it was just one of those things.
“For what happened for their third goal, I don’t know what to say.”
Simon Grayson’s men had taken the lead through a stunning Aiden McGeady effort midway through the first-half, with Hugill drawing the visitors level late on after
Huddersfield had gone in front with goals either side of half-time.
The striker felt North End could take some positives from the performance, adding: “I think today we got everything right. The gaffer put everything together and we’ve done exactly what he’s said and it’s worked.
“We tried to hit them on the counter attack and it was quite effective. Obviously we go behind for the first time and it was a bit hard to take. Obviously the equaliser was even better, especially getting the goal because I’ve not had one for a while so I’m really pleased about that.
“We can take a lot from the performance. Huddersfield are up there for a reason, they’re a good team and we felt as though we had the better of them today.”
Hugill also praised McGeady and Tom Barkhuizen for their role in his equalising goal, the Republic of Ireland international surging forward with the ball, allowing the latter to cross in for the Lilywhites’ second.
“Geads, I’ve said it many a time, he speaks for himself with the stuff that he can do with the ball, even if it is playing it off one of their players and getting it back.
“It’s a great ball from Tom. I’ve just tried to put my head through it and it’s gone in.
“We were brilliant up until that point but then the thing that happened in the box was just daft.”