Paul Gallagher's in a hurry for Preston North End to get back into action

The Lilywhites’ strong away form took a dent with the back-to-back losses and now it is back to Deepdale for Friday night football on Sky.

Gallagher made his second Championship start of the season in the 2-1 reverse at Barnsley, with injuries having bitten deep into the midfield.

Ryan Ledson and Brad Potts joined Ben Pearson on the casualty list, so Gallagher joined Alan Browne and Daniel Johnson in the engine room at Oakwell.

“We were frustrated after Barnsley so fortunately another game comes quickly,” said 36-year-old Gallagher.

“Bristol City lost to Millwall in the week so they will be thinking the same thing about another game.

“What was particularly frustrating with the Barnsley game was that we took the lead early on.

“When we score first we usually go on to dominate a game and get something.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a game where we could put our foot on the ball and make a pass.

“Barnsley play on the front foot and want to put you under pressure.

“Our game was to turn the ball and I thought it worked well for spells. The strikers knew the ball was coming early to them.

“We went 1-0 ahead and then missed a chance to make it 2-0. On another night we could have won well.”

Gallagher had a big hand in North End’s second-minute opener on Tuesday night.

It was his corner which skimmed the head of Barnsley’s Cauley Woodrow and was nodded in by Sean Maguire at the far post.

The referee got the signal from Hawkeye that Maguire’s header has crossed the line.

Said Gallagher: “I could see from the far side that it had crossed the line.

“I think the only issue was who the ball had come off, was it a Preston player or a Barnsley player?

“The first contact was Woodrow so Sean became onside, he just had to put the ball in the net and he did so.

“We nullified them for the rest of the first half, it was a scruffy game, we knew they’d play long balls and want to get second balls.

“In the end they scored two quality goals which was disappointing but I felt the second one we could have been prevented.

“It came from a free-kick and we should have stood over the ball – it was a bit of naivety on our part.

“What I will say was that the performance was better than Luton. But at the end of the day we want to win games, it is the results which matter.”

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