Wanderers made the perfect start to life back in the Championship as a full house celebrated a derby-day win over North End, writes Pete Oliver.
The newly-promoted Whites passed their first test in impressive style as they successful bridged the gap in their first second-tier game in seven years thanks to first-half goals from Sam Dalby and Thierry Gale.
A late header from Preston substitute Jusef Erabi made it a nervy last few minutes for the Wanderers’ fans in a first capacity crowd at the Toughsheet Community Stadium since 2011.
But Steven Schumacher’s men fully deserved their landmark victory on a long-awaited day in the sun which whets the appetite for what’s to come for a new-look team in an exalted new position.
Wanderers started with three of their summer recruits in the starting line-up as others were given chance to bed in and last season’s heroes quickly stepped up.
Dalby hadn’t scored since his Wembley masterpiece and looked a little ring-rusty in pre-season. But cometh the hour…..and the big striker quickly soothed worries of a potential goal shortage in the ranks after stepping up a level.
John McAtee – along with Ethan Erhahon – might have looked an unlikely starter during the build-up but both seized their chance in a superb first-half from the Whites.
And when a McAtee shot was only parried by an uncertain Daniel Iversen 14 minutes in, Dalby pounced to coolly slot home the rebound with his left foot.
It was the perfect start for Wanderers and, crucially, they didn’t let up. Gale was a constant torment to the visitors, who looked wide open every time they lost the ball, and his second goal on the break 11 minutes later was a beauty.
A lethal counter-attack sparked by Erhahon and continued by McAtee released Gale to cut inside Pol Valentin and curl the perfect finish beyond Iversen and into the bottom corner.
Dalby had the ball in the net again for an effort disallowed for a push by McAtee in teeing him up, while Josh Sheehan – playing the perfect captain’s role – twice threatened the target as Wanderers looked to keep the pressure on.
And when North End did see a possible route back into the game before the break, Chris Forino had the majority of the revved-up crowd on their feet with a potentially goal-saving block on Delano Burgzorg.
Despite Wanderers’ dominance, the next goal in the game still felt key at the start of the second half and McAtee almost provided it when he ran onto Gaizka Larrazabal’s excellent long ball over the top to send an angle drive just wide of the far post.
Wanderers continued to carry a threat, although it took an excellent covering tackle by Luca Stephenson to again deny Burgzorg after McAtee had been harshly penalised for a foul at the other end when he looked like he had won the ball on the edge of the Preston penalty area to set up another chance.
Instead, the next opening came Gale’s way when he again had the beating of Valentin before bending an effort just beyond the top corner before the visitors made a triple change with an hour gone with Valentin among those to make way.
Milutin Osmajić had the opportunity to spark a possible fightback but Jack Bonham got enough on his effort to thwart the Montenegro international and with just under 20 minutes to go it should have been game over with a third goal for the Whites.
This time Sheehan provided the ammunition with a superb long ball but after shrugging off the last defender, Dalby couldn’t beat Iversen to make it a double.
That could have been costly had Osmajić then not wasted a glorious chance when attempting to find team-mate Erabi when he should have backed himself to score and when Erabi did nod home with four minutes to go there was still work to be done.
Schumacher blooded four more of his new boys off the bench and suddenly they had a fight on their hands. But thankfully it was a winning one as Preston defender Liam Lindsay headed over with virtually the last touch when an equaliser – which would have been an incredibly harsh one for the Whites – was there for the taking.
Wanderers: Bonham; Stephenson (Brunt 85), Forino, Famewo, Conway (Toal 82); Larrazabal (Iling-Junior 75), Sheehan, Erhahon, Gale (Dong 85); McAtee (Hardie 75), Dalby. Substitutes: Harrington, Davies, Watson, Christie.
Booked: Sheehan, Forino
Preston: Iversen; Valentin (Offiah 64), Storey, Lindsay, Hughes (Vukcevic 79) Devine, McCann, Thompson (Leory 64), Burgzorg (Small 79); Lang (Erabi 64), Osmajić. Substitutes: Nicholls, Morgan, Nolan.
Booked: McCann, Lindsay, Valentin
Referee: Adam Herczeg
Attendance: 26,262 (4,435)