'Very disappointing': the real reason why Preston North End beat Leeds United - according to former Elland Road favourite

Dominic Matteo believes a key contributing factor stood out during Preston North End’s Boxing Day victory over Leeds United.

The Lilywhites secured a much-needed win over the Elland Road outfit as they recorded just their fourth triumph in 17 Championship outings. It moved the Deepdale side to within a point of the play-off places and eased the pressure that had been building on Ryan Lowe as the team’s early-season form seemed a distant memory.

Both Preston goals - from Alan Browne and Liam Millar - arrived after Leeds keeper Illan Meslier saw red for shoving North End striker Milutin Osmajic in the face eight minutes into the second half. The incident proved to be a defining moment in the game, with neither side able to break the deadlock up until that moment.

But a more prominent feature throughout the 90 minutes, according to Matteo, was the desire shown by Lowe’s side to win the match. And that’s where the former Scotland international believes the game was ultimately won and lost in the end.

Offering his thoughts on the Deepdale encounter on Sky Sports, the 49-year-old said: ‘It’s very disappointing (the result), especially when they (Leeds) get back in the game at 1-1. (They should) see it out, take the point and go home. But, again, that’s the way Leeds play. Don’t know why, but we do.

‘It’s very frustrating sometimes for the fans who travelled and obviously I think there was 7,000 or something there. It’s very disappointing, but it’s game management again.

‘Fair play to Preston. They were on the front foot, they wanted it slightly more - they wanted it a bit more than what Leeds did, and that’s the thing that will disappoint the manager (Daniel Farke), I’m sure, because you’ve got to win your personal battles and they won more than Leeds did and they ended up getting the points.’

Matteo used Browne’s 57-minute opener from Millar’s cross to emphasise his point. After the former was given time and space to deliver a telling cross into the box, the former centre-back said the North End skipper showed more hunger than anyone to win the ball and head it into the back of the Leeds net.

He added: ‘Liam Millar has been absolutely brilliant, his delivery comes in and as you watch (the goal), he’s got too much time, no-one’s getting close to him. It’s a lovely floated ball in and, again, they wanted it more, Browne wanted that bit more. We didn’t want to go and attack it. We had two players who could have went in and tried to head that and no-one did and they wanted it, and that’s the disappointing thing for me. 

‘As an ex-centre-half, you’ve got to go and win that, even as a full-back, you’ve got to win that header. That’s your job, put your head on it, make sure you get it away and we didn’t. Again, fair play to Ryan Lowe’s team - they wanted it and they got their head on it.’