Gallagher delight at PNE's second-half show

Goals from Jordan Hugill and Eoin Doyle saw PNE complete a strong comeback after Liam Trotter had given Wanderers a first-half lead in the Macron Stadium clash.

Victory helped Gentry Day go with a swing, with 4,432 North End fans making the trip to Horwich.

Midfielder Gallagher felt that the visitors had given their hosts too much of an easy ride in the first 45 minutes.

“We weren’t at the races in the first half,” said Gallagher, who has again delayed surgery to repair a hernia in order to keep on playing.

“Right at the start of the game we had a good chance when Jordan Hugill’s header skimmed the bar, we had only played a matter of seconds.

“After that, we gave Bolton too much of the ball – when we came in at half-time we were disappointed with how we had played.

“We had a big following of fans behind the goal and we wanted to try and put on a good performance for them.

“In the second half, every player ran themselves into the ground, we pressed Bolton a lot higher and put them under a lot more pressure.

“You could see their lads rushing, not settling on the ball and kicking it out of play.

“When you are down there, low on confidence and you are getting pressed on the ball, it becomes hard.

“We went for blood in the second half and were better for that.

“At half-tome, we had said that if we got a goal, then the pressure would really be on Bolton because they needed to win to give themselves a chance of getting out of the bottom three.

“As soon as we scored our equaliser, I got a feeling that we would get another because of how the game was going.

“The subs who came on all made a massive impact and it was a good second-half display by everyone.”

Hugill scored the equaliser with a diving header, his first league goal for Preston.

The winner from Doyle came in the 86th minute, the Irishman flicking home a shot from Marnick Vermijl, who was also on as a substitute.

Said Gallagher: “With the size of Jordan’s head, he should have got to that one!

“Joking aside, he is a very willing and has been patient when waiting for a chance.

“Jordan puts a good shift in, puts people under pressure and it was nice to see him on the scoresheet.

“He was down on the floor for a little while after scoring because he got a kick on the head but he managed to get up eventually to celebrate.

“For the second goal, from where I was standing, it was Eoin Doyle’s goal.

“But if you want the ball to fall to anyone at the back post, it is Marnick because he has got the hardest side-foot shot in football that I have seen.

“Marnick connected with it really well and Doyle has got a little nick on it.

“Doyle had one after that which was disallowed, a nice finish from Marnick’s cross.”

Gallagher had words of praise for Callum Robinson who shone on the left wing in the second half after playing behind Hugill in the first half.

He said: “Callum was a big threat for us on the left.

“We got the ball out to him as much as we could because he had their right-back on toast. Callum is a talented lad who played a big part in this victory.”