Preston North End 1-0 Ipswich Town as it happened: Three in three for Milutin Osmajic and back-to-back wins
Milutin Osmajic scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot
The Lilywhites were back on home soil one week on from their victory over Leicester City, and aiming to send another relegated club home empty handed. Manager Paul Heckingbottom expected a different test from the Tractor Boys, who headed into the game with two draws under their belt. Both managers named unchanged XIs on the day and with just 11 minutes on the clock, the home side hit the front.
North End kept the ball alive inside the Ipswich box and as Milutin Osmajic went to hook the ball towards goal, he was hacked down by Jacob Greaves. Fellow front man Michael Smith handed the Montenegrin the ball; he stepped up and made no mistake, sending Alex Palmer the wrong way for his third goal in as many league outings.
Ipswich struggled to work Daniel Iversen in the Preston net but their threat will certainly have been felt by the Lilywhites - who had to make a handful of last ditch tackles during the first 45 minutes. PNE’s number one was on hand to push Jack Clarke’s dangerous cross away, while Ben Johnson fired wide from range and George Hirst sliced high and wide from the cross of Clarke.
At the other end, a couple of openings had come along for Heckingbottom’s men but the final pass couldn’t be found. Having shown effort, discipline and organisation in abundance, the home side headed in ahead at the interval. The second half saw Ipswich continue to dominate possession but struggle to create anything clear-cut.
Thierry Small and Jordan Storey made herculean tackles to stop Sammie Szmodics and Jack Clarke, respectively. For all of the ball Ipswich saw they never managed to carve out the golden opportunity. Preston’s grit, spirit and resilience got them over the line, and made it back-to-back home wins against two of the promotion favourites.
Attendance: 18,381 (4,430 away) PNE starting XI: Iversen; Storey (Offiah 72’), Gibson, Hughes (Lindsay , Valentin, Whiteman, McCann, Small (Vukcevic 86’), Devine (Thordarson 72’), Smith (Jebbison 72’), Osmajic. PNE unused subs: Walton, Carroll, Dobbin, Gryba.