Preston North End 2-0 Coventry City: Johnson & Maguire strikes seal third straight win
- Published
Sean Maguire's second-half strike sealed victory for Preston
Daniel Johnson and Sean Maguire scored in either half as Preston North End beat Coventry for their third Championship win in a row.
Maguire's tenacity created the opener as he won the ball on the edge of the box and played in Johnson to slot home.
Preston keeper Declan Rudd saved twice from Gustavo Hamer in the first half as Coventry failed to make the most of their chances.
Maguire settled matters early in the second half, poking home after a scramble following Paul Gallagher's free-kick.
Rudd was tested on several occasions by Hamer, first in the early stages of the first half and then late on in the game, when he denied substitute Sam McCallum.
The Sky Blues, though, were not as unforgiving at the back.
First, Ben Sheaf coughed up the ball on the edge of his own box following pressure from Maguire, enabling Johnson to finish despite almost slipping over.
When the City defence failed to clear Gallagher's free-kick after 53 minutes, Maguire was the beneficiary.
Preston have now recorded three straight league wins for the first time in over a year - and have done so with three consecutive clean sheets, the first time they have achieved that since a run of six shut-outs in 2015.
North End begin 2021 at home to Nottingham Forest on 2 January, having now not conceded a goal at Deepdale for 285 minutes.
Coventry, winless in four matches, will travel to Millwall on Saturday.
Preston North End manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"The most important is finding a way to win the match. I thought we defended well, and when opportunities came our way we were dangerous.
"I thought Tom Barkhuizen did really well up front. Sean Maguire was excellent as well and gave us a good platform up there, particularly at the start of the second half.
"There's aspects of the game that we certainly could do a lot better. But we won the match - three wins on the bounce, and three clean sheets on the bounce, so I've got to be pleased with that."
Coventry City manager Mark Robins told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:
"I feel frustrated and angry - we've played some really good stuff and given the game away. We've got to stop giving goals away like we've done tonight.
"We've opened them up a number of times, they couldn't live with us, and gave them a goal which gave them a foothold in it.
"Then we gave another poor goal away from Jamie Allen's foul. Ball comes in, we haven't defended it properly - the line wasn't right to start with, we've been overloaded at the back post.
"We should have won that game. It shouldn't have even been a draw."