PNE in Numbers: North End have become Championship's comeback kings

Coming from 1-0 down to see off Queens Park Rangers 2-1 at Loftus Road last time out was the latest in an increasingly long line of impressive fightbacks.

Their five wins after conceding the opening goal lead the way in the Championship with Middlesbrough next in line on four.

Four have come since the turn of the year against Hull, Bolton and in each of the last two games, Alan Browne’s winner against QPR coming after the 3-1 victory at Leeds the previous Tuesday night.

The only one in the early part of the campaign was at Birmingham, the 3-1 win for Alex Neil’s side spelling the end of Harry Redknapp’s time in charge at St Andrew’s.

Maxime Colin opened the scoring 10 minutes before the interval back in September before three goals in 11 second-half minutes from Daniel Johnson, Jordan Hugill and Tom Barkhuizen saw the Lilywhites triumph with a ruthless performance in the final third.

It wasn’t until February and the 2-1 win over Hull at Deepdale that the second of the come-from-behind victories came, Browne’s penalty in first-half stoppage time proving enough after Greg Cunningham had cancelled out Jarrod Bowen’s opener.

The Bolton comeback will likely go down as the most memorable of the season.

Gentry Day was in danger of falling flat when Mark Beevers scored 12 minutes in.

But as against Birmingham, it was another second 45 to savour as a Sean Maguire double, after Tom Barkhuizen had equalised, inspired PNE to victory.

Leeds was another second-half turnaround and 3-1 win 11 days ago before Callum Robinson and Browne were on target at QPR.

It reflects PNE’s superior showing in the second half of games, Neil’s men having scored 39 goals after the break as opposed to 19 in the first half this campaign.

As impressive as the comebacks have been, North End could certainly make things easier for themselves.

There may have been back-to-back come-from-behind wins but Preston have gone behind in their last five games.

That’s resulted in three defeats against Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Reading.

Against QPR the goal against in the 13th minute came after conceding at the same time against Leeds and in the 12th minute against Reading.

Faster starts would certainly help the play-off cause, starting against Norwich on Saturday.