Preston North End player ratings vs Hull City with several 5/10s as dismal run of form continues

Preston North End threw away another lead as they lost 2-1 at Hull City on Easter Monday.

Manager Paul Heckingbottom had made his frustrations well clear, just three days prior, after the Lilywhites’ last gasp loss to QPR. North End hit the road, off the back of that, for the club’s 2024/25 Gentry Day at struggling Hull City. Backed by almost 1,500 away fans at the MKM Stadium, PNE made a bright start to the game with openings for Robbie Brady and Stefan Thordarson.

Just after the half-hour mark, Preston did find the breakthrough with Lewis Gibson on hand to slot home, after Ben Whiteman’s corner dropped kindly. At the other end, two big questions came the way of goalkeeper Dai Cornell but he had the answers on both occasions. Firstly, to shut down Nordin Amrabat quickly, and smother his prodded effort, before Lewie Coyle’s vicious volley was pushed clear.

North End were deservedly ahead at the break and the match felt there for the taking, but one-goal leads have been a vulnerable place all season for the Lilywhites. Just five minutes after the restart, Ruben Selles’ side were presented with the chance to equalise. Mads Frokjaer was penalised for a high-boot inside the Hull box and Joe Gelhardt made no mistake from 12 yards, to make it one apiece.

At that stage the game hung firmly in the balance but as the 70 minute mark approached, it was Deja-vu for Preston - as referee Thomas Bramall again pointed to the penalty spot for a shirt pull by Thordarson. Cornell got a hand to Gelhardt’s first spot-kick but was sent the wrong way second time aroumd, with the Leeds United loan man’s penalty tucked into the bottom right corner.

Here are our scores on the doors from the MKM Stadium.

Starting XI

Dai Cornell

Beaten twice from the penalty spot - got a hand to one of them. Two decent saves in the first half. 6

Jordan Storey

Part of a defence which needed to be stronger. Played a small part in PNE’s opening goal. 5.5

Liam Lindsay

Headed plenty of crosses clear - 10 clearances made on the day. Wasn’t able to effect things in the opposition box, or keep Hull out though. 6

Lewis Gibson

In the right place, at the right time to score the opening goal - his first for PNE. Made way with 13 minutes left to play. 6.5

Kaine Kesler-Hayden

Got into some promising attacking positions and worked room to deliver crosses. End product let him down at times but also needed more bodies to hit. 5.5

Ben Whiteman

Put in a steady first half performance. Struggled to wrestle the game back in Preston’s favour after the second half setbacks. 5.5

Stefan Thordarson

Made some positive runs forward in support, during the first half. Got on the ball and kept it moving but blew hot and cold. Gave the second penalty away. 5

Jayden Meghoma

Made way just before the hour mark. Had pushed on high up the pitch to support play but struggled to make much of an impact. Couldn’t head the ball clear before the first penalty. 5

Mads Frokjaer

Penalised harshly for the first Hull penalty. Led some early breaks. His impact on the game waned and the midfielder was forced off injured towards the end. 4.5

Robbie Brady

Probably Preston’s best player in the first half and one of the better performers over the 90 minutes. 6.5

Milutin Osmajic

Had chances to race through in the first half but the end product wasn’t there. 5

Substitutes

Andrew Hughes

Tried to show some intent down the left but execution let him down. 5

Ched Evans

Thrown on with 15 minutes or so to play. Didn’t make much of an impact. 5

Emil Riis

A similar story to Evans. Put himself about but to no avail. 5

Attendance: 22,103 PNE XI: Cornell; Storey, Lindsay, Gibson (Evans 77’), Kesler-Hayden, Whiteman, Thordarson, Meghoma (Hughes 58’), Frokjaer (Riis 81’), Brady, Osmajic. PNE unused subs: Stowell, Bauer, Porteous, Carroll, Kamara, T. Mawene.