Preston North End 2-2 Sheffield United – FLW report as 10-man Lilywhites stage epic comeback | OneFootball

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Football League World

·18 January 2022

Preston North End 2-2 Sheffield United – FLW report as 10-man Lilywhites stage epic comeback

Article image:Preston North End 2-2 Sheffield United – FLW report as 10-man Lilywhites stage epic comeback

Preston North End came from two goals down to share the spoils with Sheffield United at Deepdale on a cold Tuesday night in Lancashire with Emil Riis scoring a late equaliser.

North End had the first real chance of the game after some great build-up play down the left-hand side of the pitch.


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Tom Barkhuizen, slotting in at left wing back this evening, played a low ball in from the byline and there to meet it surprisingly was defender Andrew Hughes, but his effort was well stopped by Wes Foderingham in-between the United sticks.

It was a very open start to the match and that was in evidence when both sides had big chances within 30 seconds of each other.

Firstly, Scott Sinclair was denied inside the box by Foderingham when North End broke on the counter attack through Emil Riis – the Dane slid his team-mate in but under pressure from Chris Basham, the ex-Celtic man fired straight at the Blades’ stopper.

The visitors went up the other end and Iliman Ndiaye ended up testing Daniel Iversen with a shot from just outside the box as he had to tip the ball around the post for a corner.

The Blades ended up capitalising on that momentum on 17 minutes though as they took the lead in Lancashire.

John Egan’s initial header from a corner was saved by Iversen, but the ball fell to Jayden Bogle outside the area, and the defender rifled a shot through a host of bodies to open the scoring with his second league goal of the season.

North End couldn’t really get a foothold in the game after that and they were punished even further just before half-time when Rhian Brewster burst clear on goal, only to be brought down in the box by Hughes.

The Welsh defender was given his marching orders by referee David Webb and the experienced Billy Sharp did what he does best and fired the resulting spot kick into the top corner to double United’s advantage.

There was a fast start to the second half with Ndiaye stinging the palms of Iversen from outside the area but North End could feasibly have found a way back into the game through Alan Browne.

A dinked cross by Tom Barkhuizen was met by the head of the Ireland international, but his effort was spectacularly tipped over by Foderingham.

Not long after Brewster went through on goal seeking a third for his side, latching on to Enda Stevens’ through ball but the ex-Liverpool man blazed his shot over the bar from close range.

Brewster was getting multiple chances to extend the lead but things just didn’t fall for him – halfway through the second half he went one-on-one with Iversen again but sent a right-footed effort wide of the far post.

Despite having one less player, North End were getting chances to halve the deficit with Emil Riis having one of them midway through the half, but the Dane’s shot was straight at Foderingham.

With 20 minutes to go through PNE did get one back and it was through their skipper Browne.

Daniel Johnson, who has been so influential under Ryan Lowe since his arrival as manager, played a cutback pass to the North End number eight and his low drive was enough to finally beat the man keeping goal for the visiting side.

Despite having one less man on the pitch it was PNE who were on top in the latter stages, with Greg Cunningham having a dangerous cross tipped away from goal by Foderingham before someone could get on the end of it.

However Emil Riis did what no-one else could just minutes before as right before five minutes of stoppage time was shown, he latched onto the end of Ched Evans’ drilled cross to equalise for North End and sent Deepdale into delirium.

PNE even had a chance to win the game as they went three on two on the counter attack, however Browne was stopped in his tracks before being able to play a killer pass.

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