Preston produce best performance under Ryan Lowe after thrashing Blackburn

As the snow fell down over East Lancashire, Blackburn Rovers were the ones who froze as Ryan Lowe’s side found their goalscoring touch at Ewood Park with a 1-4 victory.

Goals from Ben Woodburn, Ben Whiteman and another brace from a reformed Ched Evans saw a rampant North End side rise to sixth in the Sky Bet Championship.

There was a huge scare pre-match for the visitors as Lowe named his starting XI which saw six first-teamers missing from the squad to feature in the Lancashire derby with the likes of Irish internationals Alan Browne and Robbie Brady along with Ali McCann, Emil Riis, Andrew Hughes and Sean Maguire all missing.

But with the vacant stars, North End didn’t look like a depleted side as they took the lead inside 16 minutes after North End’s high pressing saw Ched Evans play the former Liverpool man through and Woodburn calmly slotted in front of the home fans to break the deadlock.

The remainder of the first half saw North End continue to press well whilst Rovers struggled to create any chances of note in what was a disappointing opening 45 minutes for the Jon Dahl Tomasson.

Many would’ve expected things to get better for Rovers, but with two minutes gone, Ched Evans got himself on the scoresheet and doubled North End’s advantage as Preston’s press punished rovers once again and Daniel Johnson played a pivotal role on his return to the side as he slid the ball across for Evans to smash home.

Blackburn gave themselves a glimmer of hope as they got a goal back with Bradley Dack smashing in from close range, moments before being set to be taken off. But the goal didn’t help the home side who continued to play into North End’s hands and before they knew it, Preston restored their two-goal advantage as the snow really began to fell.

Greg Cunningham who was making his 300^th career appearance whipped a wicked cross in from the left and Ched Evans rose highest to head into the bottom corner and send the travelling 4,500 fans into a frenzy in the freezing cold.

With time left for more, the visitors weren’t looking to settle as they pushed for a fourth, and a quite brilliant move saw Alvaro Fernandez square the ball for Johnson who delicately touched the ball, perfectly killing the pace for the on rushing Ben Whiteman who returned from a quad injury to slot home with a deflected effort which flew in to the far corner.

With the North End practically out of reach, the changes were made from the bench as North End gave a championship debut to Jacob Slater, a professional debut to Noah Mawene, (son of North End legend Youl Mawene) and a second short appearance for young striker Finlay Cross-Adair.

The substitutions meant North End finished the game with four academy graduates on the pitch as the final whistle went and the three youngsters added to Mikey O’Neil who was slowly integrated into last the squad last season.

The win was a much needed one for North End which sees them rise into the play-off places and continued the feel-good factor which saw the afternoon end with a Ryan Lowe fist pump in front of the Darwen End.

Next up for North End is a test against QPR who has just recently announced the appointment of former Blackpool manager Neil Critchley.

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