Mustapha Carayol’s full debut goal has given Town a 1-0 lead over Preston at Deepdale at half-time.

Carayol was handed his first Town start having recovered from illness and Joe Garner was passed fit to face his old club following a knee problem as the Blues made five changes from the team which lost 1-0 at home to Cardiff on Wednesday.

Manager Mick McCarthy stuck with his three-man backline of Cameron Carter-Vickers, skipper Luke Chambers and Adam Webster ahead of keeper Bartosz Bialkowski with Dominic Iorfa taking over from Jordan Spence at right wing-back and Jonas Knudsen continuing on the left.

Cole Skuse and Callum Connolly were in their usual central midfield roles with Carayol, who had previously made one sub appearance after joining Town in January, on the left of a front three with Garner - who was back at Deepdale for the first time since leaving the Lilywhites in the summer of 2016 - in the middle and Martyn Waghorn on the right.

Bersant Celina joined Spence, Luke Hyam, Grant Ward and Freddie Sears in dropping to the bench having started on Wednesday.

For Preston, Calum Woods came into the side for the suspended Darnell Fisher, while Paul Gallagher returned to the 18 after injury and John Welsh was back from a ban.

Full debutant Carayol should have put the Blues in front in the eighth minute having been sent away on goal by Waghorn after a Preston corner had been cleared.

The former Forest man broke quickly into the Lilywhites box, cut inside a defender before hitting a shot which keeper Declan Rudd did well to save. The ball looped up, Carayol won it in the air six yards out and it dropped to his feet. He seemed certain to score but somehow stroked the ball the wrong side of the post.

But Preston had most of the ball in the opening minutes and went close to going in front themselves in the 17th minute when Ben Pearson sent a dangerous low ball across the Town six-yard box but no one was able to get a touch.

Preston players claimed Callum Robinson had been pulled back as it came across, while the Blues argued that referee Scott Duncan, who waved away the penalty protests, ought to have awarded a goalkick rather than a corner.

The home side continued to put Town under pressure, winning two further corners from which Alan Browne headed over.

But in the 21st minute the Blues took the lead. Carayol quickly closed down Woods on the Preston right and took the ball off the ponderous full-back and on into the area before slipping it confidently to Rudd’s left before celebrating his debut goal with the small Town following behind the goal.

On the half hour, Carayol almost created Town’s second of the afternoon. The Gambian international left two Preston players for dead down the left before cutting the ball back to Waghorn, whose goal-bound effort was blocked by Lilywhites skipper Greg Cunningham and fell to Rudd.

Browne headed Callum Robinson’s corner over on 31, then four minutes later man of the half Carayol was again involved as Town once more came close to doubling their lead.

The former Middlesbrough and Bristol Rovers man played a clever reverse pass in for Waghorn, who crossed towards Garner at the far post but the former Preston striker was muscled away from the ball, which reached Iorfa, who took a touch and smashed a shot from a tight angle off the bar.

Skuse hit a subsequent effort through to Rudd from the edge of the box, prior to Preston making a double tactical substitution on 38 with Carayol and Waghorn having caused their backline problems throughout. Woods and Robinson made way for Josh Earl and Josh Harrop.

Moments later, Billy Bodin sent over a dangerous corner from the right which bounced across the six-yard box without anyone getting a touch.

Skuse was shown the game’s first yellow card in the 43rd minute for felling Tom Barkhuizen as he broke towards the box.

Harrop’s freekick was blocked and Town broke, Waghorn catching the hesitant Ben Davies in possession just inside the Preston half. As the former Rangers man tried to break away with a free run on goal, Davies hauled him back.

Referee Duncan showed a yellow card - Waghorn and his team-mates evidently felt it ought to have been a red - Davies presumably saved by Pearson quickly retreating back as cover.

That was the last action of an entertaining first half in which Town might well have been even more than a single goal in front.

Carayol should have scored prior to his opener, while Waghorn also went close to breaking his 14-game run of games without a goal.

That Preston manager Alex Neil made his double change before the break was a measure of the threat from the Blues going forward, Carayol in particular.

At the other end, the Lilywhites’ biggest threat had come from corners - they had forced nine - sent deep towards the far post, but so far without anyone having been able to find the target.

Preston: Rudd, Cunningham (c), Pearson, Browne, Woods (Earl 38), Davies, Moult, Huntington, Barkhuizen, Robinson (Harrop 38), Bodin. Subs: Maxwell, Spurr, Welsh, Gallagher, Horgan.

Town: Bialkowski, Carter-Vickers, Chambers (c), Webster, Iorfa, Skuse, Connolly, Knudsen, Waghorn, Garner, Carayol. Subs: M Crowe, Celina, Spence, Ward, Hyam, Sears, Gleeson. Referee: Scott Duncan (Northumberland).

Photo: TWTD

blueboy1981 added 16:10 - Feb 24 ......... is this a MM 'shut up shop job' ? - surely not.
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jas0999 added 16:11 - Feb 24 Good first half - not let's go for it in the second!
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martin587 added 16:15 - Feb 24 Good solid FH performance.
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runningout added 16:24 - Feb 24 When you don't score many composure is an issue. Looks like a 1 : 1 coming
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blueboy1981 added 16:35 - Feb 24 ........ half time team talk word for word ............. 'let's hang on to what we've got, and if we concede a goal in trying to do so - no such thing as a bad point'. in so doing - we are likely to lose. but they are a good team, good players, thoroughly deserve to be where they are ......... Oh for a Manager who goes for the jugular of teams - we have had them !
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