Horgan hits first goal of the season

Daryl Horgan enjoyed coming out of the cold to fire Preston to victory over Burton Albion at a freezing Pirelli Stadium.
Preston North End's Tom Clarke celebrates scoring his side's first goalPreston North End's Tom Clarke celebrates scoring his side's first goal
Preston North End's Tom Clarke celebrates scoring his side's first goal

The Irishman hit North End’s second goal in the 2-1 win after joining the action as a 62nd minute substitute.

Horgan has yet to start a league game this season, this appearance his first since the 0-0 draw with Bolton three weeks ago.

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Joining the action together with Josh Harrop, he helped break Burton’s resistance.

He forced the corner from which Tom Clarke scored to put PNE 1-0 up.

Then with seven minutes remaining, Horgan produced a fine finish from the edge of the box to double the lead.

Deep into stoppage-time, Lucas Akins found the net for Burton.

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Horgan said: “We got the three points, which is massive for us because you know the way the Championship goes.

“You can jump up and down the table because it is so tight so any three points is brilliant.

“This was a hard fought one, the first half was a bit scrappy and not the best.

“But I thought we started to get on top in the second half, myself and Josh Harrop came on at a good time really.”

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The goal was Horgan’s first since March, that not a huge surprise bearing in mind his lack of football this season.

He took advantage when the ball dropped into his path after Tom Barkhuizen had been tackled on the edge of the box.

“Said Horgan: “The ball dropped perfectly for me, to the exact place I wanted it to drop.

“ It was a good ball over the top from Paul Gallagher and a good run from Tom.

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“Fortunately it bounced nicely and landed for me and I managed to put it in.

“It’s great that we are five matches unbeaten now, with three wins in there.

“For whatever reason this one just seemed a bit sweeter.

“The manager speaks about the squad quite a lot, he says different players can do different jobs.

“Luckily I was the one who came on and luckily for us it worked out, we got the three points so we’ll take it.

“We need to carry this momentum into the Christmas period, which is going to be hectic, fingers crossed we can keep picking up results and keep this run going.”

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