Blackburn Rovers 1-4 Preston North End: Ched Evans grabs double as Lilywhites win at Ewood Park
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Ched Evans has now scored five times in his last three games for Preston
Ched Evans grabbed a second-half double as Preston North End thrashed fellow promotion hopefuls Blackburn Rovers to move to within two points of their Lancashire rivals.
Evans's sidefooted effort within two minutes of the restart added to Ben Woodburn's composed one-on-one first-half finish to put the visitors in command.
Bradley Dack's close-range strike gave brief hope of a Rovers response at a bitterly cold and snowy Ewood Park.
But the 4,000 travelling travelling fans were not jittery for long as Evans headed home a delightful Greg Cunningham cross before Ben Whiteman thumped in a fourth to all but settle the match with 25 minutes still remaining.
Whiteman's deflected strike was the cue for the home fans to exit Ewood in their droves after an abject derby performance in which they failed to match Preston's desire, energy and ability to play the conditions.
Rovers had won six on the spin at home and would have gone up to second in the table before the afternoon kick-offs, but were outfought and outclassed.
Having lost all nine of the league matches in which they have conceded first, Rovers could ill afford a slow start, but an early injury to midfielder Callum Brittain seemed to disrupt their rhythm and they found themselves trailing after just 15 minutes.
A slick move saw Ryan Ledson pounce on a loose ball and he found Evans, whose cute through pass was expertly finished by Woodburn.
Rovers did begin to threaten towards the end of the first half, with top scorer Ben Brereton Diaz having an optimistic shout for a penalty ignored after a good run and Dack's header forcing a decent save from keeper Freddie Woodman.
Despite the slight improvement, Preston remained sharper and more aggressive and their willingness to press and disrupt Blackburn's rhythm soon paid off.
Woodburn won possession as Blackburn dallied at the back and he played in Daniel Johnson and Evans converted the neat pull-back.
Former Liverpool youngster Woodburn had a great chance to tee up a third for Evans soon after but greedily opted to shoot and his effort was blocked.
Ultimately, that wastefulness did not matter, although Dack's goal from Brereton Diaz's pass, after a brilliant surging run and cross by Hayden Carter created a little doubt.
Evans leapt impressively to direct a quality header low into the net from Cunningham's inviting left-wing cross to make it 3-1.
And Whiteman then ran on to Johnson's exquisite flick to power home the fourth away goal to send Preston up to fourth in the table following their biggest win at Ewood in 63 years.
Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson:
"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'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."
Preston boss Ryan Lowe:
"The game plan worked to a tee, stuff we've been working on. 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 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."