Ryan Lowe relieved to see triple substitution pay off for Preston

Posted Sunday, January 14, 2024 by PA

Ryan Lowe was relieved his half-time gamble to make three substitutions paid off after Preston claimed a 2-0 win against Bristol City.

North End laboured in the first half but the introduction of attacking trio Emil Riis, Mads Frokjaer-Jensen and Will Keane changed the game.

Keane proved to be the matchwinner, scoring twice in the second half to secure Preston a first win since Boxing Day.

Lowe admitted he was hesitant to make such drastic changes due to the risk of humiliating starters Duane Holmes, Milutin Osmajic and captain Alan Browne, but his gut proved correct.

“Sometimes when you change formations and personnel your front three need to be in the game. Ours weren’t in the first half,” he said.

“I just felt we needed another threat up front. My gut feeling is the best thing for me – and I’m just really pleased it worked.

“We haven’t won in a couple of games so we didn’t want to go out in the second half and be flat again. The substitutions changed it.”

Preston were a different team in the second half and took the lead when Keane’s strike from the centre of the goal was too good for City goalkeeper Max O’Leary.

Keane doubled the home side’s advantage when Frokjaer-Jensen had a shot saved as the pressure mounted. Keane then fired into the bottom-right corner with a superb left-foot strike for his eighth goal of the season.

“It was a very pleasing victory, the players deserve a lot of credit. We went into the staff room at half-time and I said I had to make bold decisions,” Lowe added.

“We mucked in and made some tough decisions bringing people off at half-time, our captain included.

“But I just felt we needed a bit more power at the top end of the pitch. I felt that whoever scored first would go on and win the game – and I wanted it to be us.

“We changed shape and we wanted to be on the front foot. I said to the boys don’t wait for something to happen, if they score then our backs would be against the wall.”

After three wins in a row in December, Bristol City have now gone without one in four matches and have subsequently dropped to 14th in the table.

They face West Ham in a FA Cup replay on Tuesday and boss Liam Manning has called on his team to be more creative.

“We need to create more chance, which I’ll always say, but we created enough to be ahead at a half-time,” he said.

“When you’re on top like that you have to make it count – and we didn’t. We have to work really hard to score high-level goals, whereas the ones we concede are too easy.

“What you can’t do is give easy goals away and not be ruthless at the other end.

“It was difficult to watch in the second half, but in the first half there was a lot of good.

“But it’s turning that good into outcomes, which we didn’t do.

“We had a couple of terrific opportunities – and from set-pieces – as well as good control for large periods for the first half, but we didn’t make any of them count.

“I didn’t feel too threatened, but they made three chances at half-time which had a big impact.”