Preston North End 1 Middlesbrough 3
Dec 29 2010 The Journal
TONY Mowbray dedicated Middlesbrough’s massive 3-1 basement win at Preston North End to the club’s long-suffering travelling support.
Relegation rivals Preston took a first-half lead but battling Boro hit back within two minutes as birthday boy Leroy Lita streaked clear to level.
Results elsewhere had dragged Boro into the hot spots – but then two goals in two minutes in the second sealed a precious victory.
Boro’s fourth win this calendar year clawed them back above the dotted line and out of the relegation places.
Manager Mowbray hailed the Teesside fans for sticking by the side through a turbulent season.
“It was a nice little Christmas present for them,” he said.
“I hope they go home delighted because they have deserved it.
“They have been magnificent everywhere on the road since I came here, at Doncaster, at Scunthorpe and here at Preston – fantastic support.
“They deserve far better than the results we have given them, and I hope this is just the start for us and that from here we can push on and start to find a bit of consistency and belief and start to give them a bit more to celebrate.”
Mowbray (pictured far right) admitted it was a massive win but said he wasn’t interested in his rivals’ results.
“As a rule don’t look at how other teams are doing,” he said.
“That doesn’t matter until the last 10 games or so.
“Right now all we can do is win the games we are playing and start to make headway up the table.
“We are halfway through now. We have 23 games left and we need to make sure the second half of the season is far, far better than the first. Now we need to build on this and go to Leeds on New Year’s Day and make sure we don’t slip back again.
“We need to make sure that 2011 is a far better year for this club, that there is a big change in results and in personnel and that we can get some stability.”
Preston started brightly and Boro were forced into some desperate defending.
After a couple of tentative probes Boro threatened on 17 minutes as a fluid passing move sparked by Joe Bennett down the left found Mickael Tavares on the edge of the box; when he was tackled the ball squirted to the right for the unmarked Gary O’Neil to blaze over.
Preston should have gone ahead on 20 minutes when Lita was muscled off the ball down near the right hand corner flag and De Laet knocked the loose ball through the middle for Joshua King and when Wheater got in a tackle it deflected nicely for Michael Tonge to collect.
