Derby County 0-1 Preston North End: Alan Browne scores stunning late Lilywhites winner
- Published
Wayne Rooney has not played for Derby since the 3-0 defeat against Middlesbrough on 25 November
Alan Browne scored a stunning 96th-minute winner as Preston North End finally broke 10-man Derby County's resolve at Pride Park.
An inspired display by Rams goalkeeper David Marshall looked to have earned the hosts a gutsy point after the 20th-minute dismissal of Martyn Waghorn for an ugly studs-up challenge on Browne.
But Browne cut inside on the right and curled home a delightful effort past the Scotland keeper and into the far corner to reward a dominant North End.
Derby, who remain in the Championship relegation places, barely threatened after Waghorn's early exit and only managed one effort on target - but still seemed set to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games until Browne intervened.
Derby - and Waghorn's - afternoon started encouragingly, the striker going close with a headed chance and also forcing keeper Declan Rudd into a fine sprawling save from a curling strike.
But when his Boxing Day activity came to an abrupt end, so did Derby's goal threat.
The excellent Marshall made decent two saves from Josh Earl and then foiled Tom Barkhuizen with a superb near-post stop.
Marshall's heroics looked to have continued the good run which saw Derby beat high-flying Swansea last time out, but Browne's strike stole the points and ensured a sixth away Championship win to take Preston up to 13th in the table.
Derby County caretaker manager Wayne Rooney told BBC Radio Derby:
"I think that's our best performance of the season. Going down to 10 men and digging in for so long, but always still playing on the break and trying to win the game.
"I'm really pleased with the players and the attitude and the work that they put in."
On Martyn Waghorn's sending off: "As soon as I saw the tackle I knew it was a red card. It's disappointing but these things happen in football. We had to adapt and adjust our system and I thought the lads did that brilliantly.
"I'm confident with this group of players and how they're performing. I'm confident we can get three points in our next two games."
Preston manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"The tackle comes very early in the match. It is a red card I think. I've seen it back, he doesn't try to hurt our player but it was reckless.
"From then until half time I thought we probed and we looked likely to score. They changed their shape a little bit and caused us some issues.
"If I'm being honest, in the second half I didn't see the goal coming. We didn't play well enough. But it was nice that Alan (Browne) popped up with a bit of quality to win the match.
"It's a strange feeling because the boys are ecstatic because we've won the game, but the performance comes first. And we didn't play well."