Player ratings:

Gallacher - 6 - had a few saves to make in the first half and made them look comfortable. Slightly tentative with a few balls between the defence and himself.

Colin - 7 - Wasn't tested very much defensively, but he looked much better positionally, worked well with Croft and even overlapped to good effect. Impressive.

Doherty - 6 - Wasn't really tested by a poor Preston frontline. Was dominant in the air as we've come to expect.

Shackell - 6 - Again, relatively unchallenged but did what he had to do. Managed to avoid the hoof.

Drury - 7 - Good overlapping play. Made several strong challenges and generally did his usual Mr. Dependable job.

Huckerby - 6 - Not sure if it's because we take him for granted, but didn't look overly impressive tonight. We've come to expect him to beat a number of players, but unfortunately he is losing the ball more and more frequently. Still a vital part of our team though.

Robinson - 7 - One mazing run into the box almost resulted in a goal we'd expect of Hucks. Overall linked well with his midfield partners.

Safri - 7 - Particularly in the first half he was our lynchpin. Had Robinson and Etuhu providing options for him and the midfield gelled as a result.

Etuhu - 8 - One misplaced pass in the whole game. How he has been labelled as a lazy player I don't know. All over the pitch. Very impressive.

Croft - 7 - Looks like a proper winger. Put at least 4 good crosses in. If we can get the ball to him while Dickson is in and around the box I wouldn't be surprised if we get goals.

Earnshaw - 7 - Impressive hold-up play for a small man. Helped largely by the fact that the passes played to him were accurate and on the deck. Took his goal extremely well.

Subs:

McVeigh - 6 - Good creativity for the goal but didn't look as accomplished as normal.

Fleming - 5 - Not sure why he came on. Colin was in fine form, but Fleming didn't do anything wrong in his 10 minutes on the pitch.

McKenzie - 5 - Did his usual greyhound-esque chasing of the ball but didn't really have time to make an impact or become accustomed to the pace of the game,

Posted By: Dog, Aug 8, 22:32:59