Buzzin Championship Football

kevin nolan sends magpies top

Preston will have every right to feel hard done by following last night’s Championship game at home to Newcastle, the hosts produced the better football throughout the game but succumbed to a Kevin Nolan goal in the 74th minute that saw all three points go to the Magpies.

Newcastle are now two points clear at the top of the table, ahead of West Bromwich Albion and six clear of third placed Leicester City, and manager Chris Hughton will no doubt claim, Alan Hansen style, that playing badly and winning is the sign of a true championship contending team.

Preston had made the better chances during a fairly drab affair at Deepdale with Neil Mellor forcing good saves from Steve Harper on two occasions and firing wide on another attempt when he was clear on goal. Michael Tonge making his first appearance since joining Preston on a loan deal, also made an impact and should have been rewarded following a long range effort that shaved the crossbar.

But it was Kevin Nolan’s eighth goal of the season that secured the points for Newcastle, pleasing Hughton but leaving Preston manager Alan Irvine ruing his teams misfortune, he said after the game;

“I don’t think we should have lost the game, certainly. I thought that we matched Newcastle for many parts of the game. I felt as if we had some good chances to score ourselves. But we didn’t take our chances and Kevin Nolan finished his chance, which was maybe not even that much of a chance, very well.”

Preston are currently in 12th place in the Championship with 24 points, one point behind Middlesbrough and only three points off the play off positions with a long way to go in the season.