First of all, hopefully, Patrick Bauer makes a full recovery from the achilles injury he sustained, he’ll be a miss.
Secondly, the goals. All three were superb. The commentator on the red button coverage on Sky referred to our opener as “Attacking football at its best!” and that’s exactly what it was. The second goal was, well… stunning. Just watch it again below and try to ignore how wonky the halfway line is.
Preston's @Scotty_Sinclair casually lobbing Asmir Begovic from 35 yards out 😎 pic.twitter.com/igNJoTo6kj
— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) December 1, 2020
The third goal is brilliantly worked from us, too. As much as Bournemouth get praise for pinging the ball about, it was a great goal from us. The chest control from Seani Maguire, Sinclair’s ball through to DJ who puts a ball in with his right foot to pick out big Pat at the back post who finished in-off the post. A goal that probably won’t get talked about as much as either of the other two.
Thirdly, we’ve been getting pelters from some supporters for a few weeks now for (rightly or wrongly) backing Alex Neil and more recently also for stating that we didn’t think he’d “lost the dressing room” as some fans have alleged.
Some questionable performances recently? Absolutely. Was the defeat against Rovers absolutely gutting? Yes. But, our win against Bournemouth, I hope, showed sections of our fanbase that the manager absolutely has not lost the dressing room and that was something backed up by in-form forward, Tom Barkhuizen in the post-match press with our friend, George Hodgson. See below.
Barky: "Us not backing or playing for the manager is one of the most ridiculous things you could say. We'll give 100% for him." #pnefc
— George Hodgson (@GHodgsonSport) December 1, 2020
We’ve been called all sorts recently which is quite funny, we’ve had some interesting email conversations with people desperate to come on the podcast (they won’t be coming on, worry not) but I feel a slight sense of justification after our win over Bournemouth. Yes, some folk will still find stuff to moan about and yes, there are still questions that deserve to be directed (rightly, in my opinion) at those who are at the top of the club regarding the long term plan of Preston North End Football Club but by god, we have a bloody good group of players here.
When the manager has the ‘big 4’ available and the likes of Scott Sinclair, Tom Barkhuizen, Declan Rudd, Darnell Fisher, and Ryan Ledson to name a few, we’re a good, good side. Alex Neil needs properly backing in terms of getting as many of the ‘big 5’ signed up and any new additions he wants in the January transfer window.
Episode #19 of the From the Finney podcast is available to stream now, aptly named “Anything But Vanilla” which is something that Tuesday night certainly wasn’t.
We might have mixed up Pat’s injury, it was definitely (incorrectly) referred to as an ACL, which is exactly what it isn’t, it’s his Achilles and could, unfortunately, potentially rule him out for the rest of the season. Get well soon, BFG.
The episode is available to stream on the majority of the main streaming platforms/apps, go and give it a listen now and let us know what you think. Finally, make sure you give us a follow on twitter – @fromthefinney.
