Birmingham City 0 Preston North End 1 match report: Scott Sinclair fires the Lilywhites to victory at St Andrew's

Sinclair's winner was his eighth goal of the season, seven of them coming on PNE's travels.

The winger struck the contest's only goal in the 61st minute, finishing off a sweeping North End counter-attack which started deep inside their own half.

It was the reward for a much better second-half performance from Alex Neil's men after a scrappy first 45 minutes in the West Midlands rain.

Before Sinclair's goal, Brad Potts had struck a shot against the woodwork and seen another effort well saved by Blues keeper Neil Etheridge.

It was a seventh away victory of the campaign and much needed, delivering a first victory of 2021 after three straight defeats.

Midfielders Jayson Molumby, Ben Whteman and Ryan Ledson all impressed, doing both sides of the game.

The PNE starting XI had shown four changes from last Saturday's defeat at Bristol City.

Molumby, Potts, Ledson and Emil Riis came into the side, with Darnell Fisher, Daniel Johnson and Tom Barkhuizen dropping to the bench, while injury ruled out Sean Maguire.

Skipper Alan Browne moved to right-back, with Whiteman and Ledson paired together in midfield - Molumby playing higher up behind Riis.

Potts operated down the left-wing, with Sinclair on the right.

It was a scrappy first half in general, heavy rain early in the contest making conditions difficult.

When Whiteman misjudged a bouncing ball a few yards outside the box, Maikel Kieftenbeld sent a first-time shot dipping just over the bar.

It took North End the best part of 25 minutes to muster a chance on goal and when it came, it was a close one.

They counter-attacked after defending a corner, Potts taking possession on the left and feeding a great ball down the channel for the overlapping Browne to chase.

Browne came inside off the line on to his right foot, bending a shot from the edge of the box inches wide of the far post.

Just after the half-hour mark, Ivan Sanchez struck a low shot from the right-hand side of the box, Daniel Iversen getting down well to parry.

Soon after, Jeremie Bela's free-kick from 25 yards hit the top of the PNE wall and looped behind for a corner.

During the course of the first half, Riis must have been caught offside half-a-dozen times as he chased a succession of balls drilled up to him.

However, four minutes into the second half the big Dane timed his well to chase Sinclair's pass behind the Blues defence down the right channel.

His low ball inside found the run of Potts who struck a low shot past the keeper but saw it come back off the foot of the post.

Within sixty seconds Potts had another sight of goal, taking Sinclair's pass and hitting a 20-yard shot which Neil Etheridge dived to get a strong hand to and push past the post.

Another chance came PNE's way in the 57th, Sinclair getting beyond the hosts' backline to the right of goal but Etheridge came out to smother well at his feet.

North End took the lead with a quality goal on the break in the 61st minute.

It started with Whiteman deep inside his own half, his 30-yard pass finding Sinclair who played a lovely back heel to Molumby.

The on-loan midfielder drove forward down the centre of the pitch and slid a perfectly-weighted pass into the box to find Sinclair who didn't break stride before firing a low right-foot shot shot across the keeper into the far bottom corner.

Potts drove a shot over the bar from the edge of the box after Browne had knocked the ball into his path.

Sinclair was substituted in the 77th minute, Barkhuizen's fresh legs replacing him for the final section of the contest.

Molumby's energetic evening ended when he went down with cramp in the centre circle in the 86th minute, Johnson summoned off the bench to replace him.

From somewhere referee Ton y Harrington found seven minutes of stoppage-time, Alex Neil giving fourth official Jeremy Simpson both barrells as he prepared to hold the board up.

There were a couple of anxious moments, a shot from Jonathan Leko bouncing inches wide and fellow sub Gary Gardner got behind PNE's defence late on but scuffed his shot straight to Iversen.

Birmingham: Etheridge, Colin, San Jose, Dean, Friend, Kieftenbeld, Sunjic, Sanchez (Gardner 73), Toral (Leko 60), Bela (Halilovic 73), Hogan (Jutkiewicz 60). Subs (not used): Pedersen, Roberts, Clayton, Dacres-Cogley, Trueman.

PNE: Iversen, Browne, Huntington, Davies, Hughes, Ledson, Whiteman, Sinclair (Barkhuizen 77), Molumby (Johnson 86), Potts, Riis. Subs (not used): Fisher, Earl, Bayliss, Gallagher, Rafferty, Evans, Ripley.

Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland)

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 per month for the first two months. Try us today by clicking here