Preston North End 2-0 Bristol City: Will Keane's second half double sinks Robins
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Will Keane scored twice, including this opener, as Preston beat Bristol City
Will Keane's double strike re-ignited Preston's fading play-off hopes as they beat Bristol City at Deepdale.
The striker netted twice as a second half substitute after the two sides had cancelled each other out in an uneventful first half to chalk up only the Lilywhites' second win in their last six games.
Manager Ryan Lowe, who was coming under pressure from elements of the Preston support after the early-season form took a downturn, also saw his team achieve only their second clean sheet in 22 games.
City have now gone three games without a goal and have lost two on the bounce, and rarely looked like troubling Preston keeper Freddie Woodman.
The fans at Deepdale were braced for more misery with Preston having conceded 24 goals at home this season, the worst record in the Championship.
But the fact they were treated to a shut-out, with Keane converting that solidity into three points, means they can dare to dream of finding the kind of form that saw them sitting top of the table when the season was seven games old.
It did not seem to be on the cards in a first half in which both teams lacked enterprise and cutting edge, with Woodman saving well from Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Anis Mehmeti.
At the other end, Max O'Leary was similarly alert, throwing out a leg to keep out Liam Millar's goalbound volley, while Duane Holmes fired another good opening over the bar.
Lowe reacted by sending on Keane, Emil Riis and Mads Frokjaer for Milutin Osmajic, Holmes and Alan Browne at half time, and that changed the course of the game.
Woodman's punt was headed into no-man's land by defender George Tanner and the Preston striker nipped in to nick the ball off the toes of O'Leary, rounding the keeper to place into an empty net.
The goal lifted the Lancashire gloom, and when Emil Riis put in a lovely teasing cross, Keane finished well to double his tally and secure the points.
The Robins, who had scored seven in Christmas wins over Hull and Watford, have now gone three games without a goal for the first time since since April 2021.
Preston, after losing four of the previous five, are now within two points of sixth place again after chalking up their first win over Bristol City in seven attempts.
Preston manager Ryan Lowe:
"We went into the staff room at half time and I said I needed to make bold decisions. It's a tough decision to take people off at half time, your captain included, plus a senior pro (Duane Holmes) and Milly (Osmajic) but I felt we needed more power at the top end of the pitch.
"I felt whoever scored first would go on and win the game and I wanted it to be us, so we changed shape and went on the front foot."I said to the boys 'If you're going to be waiting for something to happen, and they score, your backs are against the wall', and lo and behold the decisions paid off.
"Credit to the players. Mads (Frokjaer) when he came on the pitch, and Emil (Riis) just coming back from a long lay-off, and I thought they were fantastic. We didn't want, in the second half, to be going out and it be flat again, and the substitutions changed it.
"The atmosphere was bubbling more, the intensity was more, we were more on the front foot and putting balls in behind, and as you've seen we went and scored two good goals."
Bristol City manager Liam Manning told BBC Radio Bristol:
"In the first half there was a lot of good but it's turning that good into outcomes, which we didn't do. Taylor had a terrific opportunity, Knighty had a couple of chances off set-pieces and I thought we had good control for large periods of the first half.
"Bar set-pieces, we didn't feel too threatened but then they made three changes at half-time which had a big impact, and we didn't respond to that well enough in the second half.
"We created enough to be ahead at half-time, but the ones we conceded were too easy. It was just a bit more directness, which we didn't deal with.
"We have to work hard to ensure we create more, but it's about being braver. It's that ruthless edge, that composure and quality around the penalty box to make it count."