Rotherham United 2-1 Preston North End: Crooks scores late winner for Millers
- Published
Matt Crooks fires in his first goal of the season
Matt Crooks' late winner fired Rotherham to victory to end Preston's unbeaten away record after a dramatic finale.
The Millers went ahead when Michael Ihiekwe got on the end of a deep free-kick and headed back across to Richard Wood, who showed fine control and a neat finish.
Ryan Ledson looked to have earned the visitors a point with his first Preston goal with a superb long-range finish.
Crooks restored the lead with a calm finish after a great run and cross from Florian Jozefzoon, but there was still time for Jayden Stockley to head against the post for the Lilywhites.
Preston arrived buoyed by their handsome midweek win at leaders Reading, and with the best away record in the Championship with 13 points from 15 - as well as the worst home record -- with all of their points coming on the road.
Alex Neil's side carried on where they had left off and carved out the best chances of a first half light on goalmouth action.
Paul Huntington headed Ryan Ledson's free-kick just wide, while Daniel Johnson should have done better when denied by the feet of debutant goalkeeper Viktor Johansson when sent clean through by Emil Riis Jakobsen.
But the Millers grew into the game, and Freddie Ladapo put a great chance wide after good work from Ben Wiles just a moment before Wood gave the Millers a deserved lead.
The game exploded into life in the final 10 minutes, with Crooks quickly responding to Ledson's first goal in 53 appearances to give Rotherham a second league win of the season.
Paul Warne's side remained in 19th place, while Preston dropped to 14th.
Rotherham manager Paul Warne told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"I thought the first half we were excellent and deserved to take the lead. Unfortunately we have to create a lot of chances to score, which does leave us more vulnerable.
"To go 1-0 up and then concede pretty late on, what I was really pleased with was that the lads weren't happy with a point and we had the bravery to still attack.
"I thought overall we deserved the win, we had more clear-cut chances, there were brilliant performances, and I'm really pleased with my goalkeeper."
Preston boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"The game panned out exactly as I expected it - I've never seen anyone come here and make it a free-flowing game because they are really aggressive and want to fight and scrap for second balls.
"We got our best chance of the first half with DJ (Daniel Johnson) one-on-one with the goalkeeper and don't take it which is a big moment in the game.
"I gave them all enough praise the other night against Reading - we had 11 really good performances - but far too many tonight didn't play well, didn't move the ball well enough, didn't show enough composure.
"I thought some of the lads in the middle of the park in the first half gave the ball away every time they touched it. There were some poor performances in there."