Preston North End column: Sean Maguire talks goalline technology and Alan Browne's Christmas dinner cooking skills

I got some help from the Hawkeye goalline technology system for the goal, my header having crossed the line but the keeper then pushing it out.

Right away I could see the ball had crossed the line and the ref got the signal it had.

There was then a bit of confusion because the linesman thought I might have been offside. But with the ball having come off a Barnsley player, that wasn’t the case.

The goal came early and our game plan in the first half worked well. We wanted to frustrate them, get the ball in their half and work Barnsley’s defence hard from there with Emil Riis and myself up there.

Something we spoke about was not letting them shoot from distance because they had some of the best statistics for goals from outside the box.

So for their equaliser from Alex Mowatt to come from 20-25 yards was disappointing – it was that kind of threat we had been working to stop.

It was a game we thought we shouldn’t have lost, especially having scored the first goal and given ourselves a platform in the match.

That came on the back of the Luton defeat which we know wasn’t good enough.

It makes the Bristol City game at Deepdale a really important one. If we could get a win, it would set us up nicely for the Christmas matches.

While no one wants to be losing games, this isn’t a time to get frustrated.

We’d won two and drawn one before playing Luton, so we know we are capable of putting points on the board

We’ve actually got a clear midweek ahead which is a bit of a luxury with how the schedule has been.

So it would be nice to have a bit of rest and also time on the training pitch knowing we had a good result against Bristol City under our belts.

This is a busy week, having played Saturday, Tuesday and now Friday, but it is something we are ready for.

I think some of the lads could benefit from a day or two’s break next week because they have played every game.

The matches are what it’s about though, ask any footballer whether they prefer to play every few days and not train as much, and you now what the answer will be.

After Bristol City, we hit the three Christmas games and that is always a key stage of the season.

Unfortunately we won’t have a crowd to watch us this year when normally the matches get really big attendances at this time.

At Christmas, my missus normally heads back home to Ireland but with all that is going on with Covid and the restrictions, she’s staying over here this year.

So we’ll be heading over to the Browne’s for Christmas dinner.

Alan Browne and his family live nearby and we are in a bubble with them.

I went to their house for Christmas dinner last year and it worked out well – we played Leeds on Boxing Day and Browney scored.

Browney is not a bad cook, I’ll give him a seven-and-a-half out of 10 because there’s always room for improvement!

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