North End 4 – Boro 1: The Lilywhites cruise past The Boro at Deepdale

Preston North End defeat Middlesbrough 4-1 on Saturday at Deepdale. Both teams arrived on the back of wins. North End were keen to hang onto their position at the top of league and extend their winning run after winning last match whilst Boro were coming from consecutive wins against Stoke City and Cardiff City. This left, North End are in 14th place on the table and has 61 points while Boro sit in 7th with 70 points after 46 matches.

The Lilywhites started the game well, with Alan Browne opening the rout in the 24th minute. However they weren’t finished yet and Dael Fry made it 2-0 in the 35th minute. The score at half time was 2-0.

Boro started the second half with an intensified spirit, with an early goal from Marcus Tavernier in the 48th minute. However, North End increased their advantage with a Emil Riis goal at the 53 minute mark to make it 3-1. North End then scored again and increased their lead thanks to a 2nd effort from Emil Riis at the 74 minute mark to make it 4-1.

North End brought on Paul Huntington, Mikey O’Neill and Ryan Ledson for Bambo Diaby, Emil Riis and Ben Whiteman. Boro brought on Folarin Balogun, Josh Coburn and Aaron Connolly, to replace Andraz Sporar, Duncan Watmore and Anfernee Dijksteel.

The referee booked Daniel Johnson and Sepp Van den Berg from North End. Boro had the worst of it though, with Paddy McNair, Luke Daniels, Anfernee Dijksteel, Dael Fry, Isaiah Jones and Matt Crooks seeing yellow, and Paddy McNair then sent off with a red.