It was good to be back at Deepdale yesterday, three months after a narrow 2-1 win over Burton Albion saw North End narrowly miss out on the play offs.
It was a solid performance from North End against Steve McClaren’s QPR, Alan Browne’s 50th minute header the goal that separated the two teams.
QPR set up relatively defensively but they had their chances – Declan Rudd making a fine close range save late on to clinch the win for North End – and you would not bet against their attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze playing higher up the ladder in a few years’ time.
All the talk before the season opener was about the lack of striking options with Sean Maguire’s injury, although Louis Moult had a good game.
He looked more like the finished article than he did last season, and linked up very well with his team mates – something you would expect to have developed over pre season.
He faced a tough battle against QPR’s German defender Toni Leistner, who is probably one of the strongest centre backs in the Championship, Moult winning his fair share of headers.
There were no real attempts on goal for Moult, something which he will want to improve on, but his all round play was encouraging.
Whether more competition arrives for the forward role before next week, with Moult the only senior striker available at the moment, remains to be seen.
The back four looked solid, Andrew Hughes slotting in seamlessly on his North End debut.
The left back, signed from Peterborough earlier in the summer, put in some strong challenges and also looked threatening in the opposing half.
The head injury to Tom Clarke (a potential concussion) will be a concern ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Swansea – the PNE captain was preferred to Paul Huntington alongside man of the match Ben Davies at the heart of the defence and he had a solid game.
Ben Pearson, perhaps surprisingly, avoided a yellow card yesterday and put in a strong performance, just as North End fans are now used to seeing from the 23 year old.
Callum Robinson did well going forward and there were noticeable improvements in his defensive work, something that Daryl Horgan matched when he came on.
Horgan now looks to be firmly in Neil’s plans, whether that be as a starter or from the bench, and he brought renewed energy to the North End attack when he was introduced late on.
Some of his early crosses were wayward but there is no doubting his crossing ability and you would expect the quality of those to improve with game time this early in the season.
With a tough run of games coming up for North End, yesterday’s win and the performance is an encouraging start to the season with some new faces possibly arriving in time for next Saturday.
RS Sport 