McGeady's competitive edge comes to fore

Preston North End's Aiden McGeady complains to referee Oliver Langford as he is shown a yellow card at Barnsley.

The on-loan Everton winger has been booked in each of his last four games for the Lilywhites, his solitary caution before that coming in the 2-1 win at Bristol City back in December.

More known for his trickery and attacking flair, the latest yellow card came in the 0-0 draw at play-off rivals Barnsley on Saturday.

McGeady was caught by a late challenge that required stitches in his thigh and with no whistle forthcoming from referee Oliver Langford admits that he lashed out at Tykes winger Ryan Kent in frustration as play carried on.

“I took the ball but the lad’s just put his studs right down my thigh,” said the 30-year-old.

“I had a word with the ref who wasn’t interested and probably a little bit of red mist descended.

“I’ve got that in my locker though.

“It’s probably gone out of my game a bit as I’ve got older.

“It was one of those games where you had to defend from the front.”

The stalemate at Barnsley saw Simon Grayson’s side go a fourth Championship game without a win.

Draws at Aston Villa and Ipswich came before the disappointing 2-0 reverse at Cardiff last Tuesday night.

Longer term, North End’s form is impressive, Preston having lost just four of their last 22 games in the league.

They are now however 11th in the table, seven points behind Sheffield Wednesday in the final play-off spot, the Owls also having a game in hand.

McGeady acknowledges that PNE need to get back to winning ways sooner rather than later if they’re serious about their top-six ambitions, Brentford the visitors to Deepdale this Saturday.

“It’s not always going to be free-flowing, attacking football with wins at the end of the day,” he said.

“We’ve been on a good run over the last couple of months.

“We just need something to turn and then we can go on another run and get ourselves right back in there.

“The onus is on turn these draws into wins, then the play-offs are definitely within reach.”

Tickets for PNE’s trip to Derby have gone on sale.

North End have been given an allocation for 1,259 for the game on Tuesday, March 7.

They are priced adults £22, seniors £15.50 and under 18s £12.50.