Preston North End manager Simon Grayson was thrilled with his side’s five star performance at home to Bristol City.
A first half goal from Tom Barkhuizen – his sixth in as many games – a penalty on his 31st birthday from Aiden McGeady, a header from skipper Tom Clarke and two goals from Callum Robinson against his former club, taking him to 11 for the season, gave the Lilywhites a 5-0 win against Lee Johnson’s Robins.
Reflecting on the win the gaffer felt a key moment came when his goalkeeper denied former PNE man Bailey Wright at 1-0 late in the first half.
“When you look at the result and the performance, it is a really enjoyable night for everybody,” Simon told PNE PlayerHD. “We had to work very hard for it; especially in the first half - when there was not much in the game.
“But we got the first goal, which gave us something to build off and the key moment was Chris Maxwell making a good save for us to keep us ahead at 1-0 and then we wanted to build off the first half and up the ante.
“It was an excellent save because it came through a few bodies; they kept the ball alive from the set piece and that is what Chris is there to do and we were very grateful that he did that.
“We wanted to be a little bit quicker, with and without the ball and we got a great start getting the penalty, got a quick third goal and that gave the platform for the lads to go and enjoy themselves and express themselves and score some great goals with some good performances.”
The goals were plentiful after the break, with all of them excellent in their own way, leaving the North End chief able to wax lyrical about his team’s clinical nature in front of goal.
“There was good work down the left hand side by Geads and Tom got himself into the box, even though he was playing out wide. He has got a striker’s instinct, where he wants to get in amongst it and it was a good finish [for the first goal],” he continued.
“We had a couple of other chances that could have resulted in goals, but we said to the players at half time that we just had to up it a little bit and do the right things and we were certainly very good after the break and expressed ourselves. We didn’t get complacent, even when the goals were flying in.
“We made them aware at half-time that they had to move it a little bit quicker and some clever play got us the penalty. Geads put it away really well – we haven’t had too many penalties at Deepdale, so it was nice to see it go in.
“Then we got a quick goal straight after from Tom’s header in the box and from then on we played really well. We passed it, we moved, we didn’t give them opportunities to get close to us and for me the best goal was the fourth one where Tom Barkhuizen ran through and at 3-0 most strikers would have had a shot to try and get another goal for themselves, but he put it on a plate for Callum just to slot it in, so for me it was a great goal.”
Reflecting on the win the gaffer felt a key moment came when his goalkeeper denied former PNE man Bailey Wright at 1-0 late in the first half.
“When you look at the result and the performance, it is a really enjoyable night for everybody,” Simon told PNE PlayerHD. “We had to work very hard for it; especially in the first half - when there was not much in the game.
“But we got the first goal, which gave us something to build off and the key moment was Chris Maxwell making a good save for us to keep us ahead at 1-0 and then we wanted to build off the first half and up the ante.
“It was an excellent save because it came through a few bodies; they kept the ball alive from the set piece and that is what Chris is there to do and we were very grateful that he did that.
“We wanted to be a little bit quicker, with and without the ball and we got a great start getting the penalty, got a quick third goal and that gave the platform for the lads to go and enjoy themselves and express themselves and score some great goals with some good performances.”
The goals were plentiful after the break, with all of them excellent in their own way, leaving the North End chief able to wax lyrical about his team’s clinical nature in front of goal.
“There was good work down the left hand side by Geads and Tom got himself into the box, even though he was playing out wide. He has got a striker’s instinct, where he wants to get in amongst it and it was a good finish [for the first goal],” he continued.
“We had a couple of other chances that could have resulted in goals, but we said to the players at half time that we just had to up it a little bit and do the right things and we were certainly very good after the break and expressed ourselves. We didn’t get complacent, even when the goals were flying in.
“We made them aware at half-time that they had to move it a little bit quicker and some clever play got us the penalty. Geads put it away really well – we haven’t had too many penalties at Deepdale, so it was nice to see it go in.
“Then we got a quick goal straight after from Tom’s header in the box and from then on we played really well. We passed it, we moved, we didn’t give them opportunities to get close to us and for me the best goal was the fourth one where Tom Barkhuizen ran through and at 3-0 most strikers would have had a shot to try and get another goal for themselves, but he put it on a plate for Callum just to slot it in, so for me it was a great goal.”