Preston manager Ryan Lowe lauded an “outstanding” performance after his depleted side thrashed Lancashire rivals Blackburn 4-1 at Ewood Park.
Although deprived of five first-team regulars, North End dominated the Lancashire derby, neutralising their rivals’ threat and looking capable of scoring at any opportunity.
They forced mistakes from Blackburn for the first two goals, which led to Ben Woodburn’s confident 17th-minute finish – his second of the campaign – and Ched Evans’ close range effort just after the break.
Although Rovers briefly rallied and struck back through Bradley Dack, any hopes of a comeback were extinguished with a quickfire double through a bullet Evans header in the 63rd minute before Ben Whiteman’s deflected strike in the 65th minute finished off a stylish move.
Preston’s away form is the best in the league and they have won four of their last six on the road, scoring four against a team that had only conceded seven all season at home.
Lowe praised his team’s resilience despite the injuries and the ability of others to grasp opportunities to play.
He said: “Outstanding, I must say. Very good. I thought they took the instruction on spot on.
“The game plan worked to a tee, stuff we’ve been working on and credit where credit’s due to the group. They were fantastic.
“We want to be a little bit more expansive in terms of on the front foot, getting in people’s faces. I thought in possession and out of possession we were fantastic.
“I must say, credit to the group because when you get a hit in terms of injury and the group sees players going down, it can harm you.
“The group are all here today. I made sure they were all here. The togetherness I’ve seen in the past four weeks, I said to our lads, whoever plays, it isn’t about 11, 12, 13 players, it’s the squad.
“When the squad needs to be utilised like it has been today and opportunities come along, you’ve got to take them. That’s what they’ve done today, they were fantastic. Distances, from back to front, the work rate. They were excellent.”
Rovers’ six-game winning Ewood Park run was shattered by their visitors and head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson conceded his side were “second best”.
He said: “It was a very disappointing performance. When we played the ball, we didn’t play quick enough. Didn’t have enough players who were prepared to make runs forward.
“We played too many balls backwards instead of playing the ball forward. We lost more or less every duel.
“We’ve had some great wins at Ewood Park, some great performances. Today was very bad and I feel sorry for our supporters. The players need to take that and that is not going to happen again because we’ve created a bit of a fortress here but today was not a fortress at all.
“We’re very disappointed of course, which we should be after the performance. We were second best with everything.
“You always need to stay together after a performance like that, but every situation that happened today was just not good enough. The intensity we played the ball with, backwards, sidewards, was too slow.”
