Blues go down 2-1 at Preston, as Andy Munro reports.
This was a game Blues where generally dominated both in possession and shot-wise but inexplicably let the points slip.
I suppose if Preston were and remain the only undefeated side in the Championship then Blues are not far away. There were no real complaints about the defence, except why didn’t Kevin Long take charge and bawl at Krystian Beilik to leave the ball before the latter put it into his own net? The oft-criticised Emmanuel Longelo showed that he can operate in a back four rather than as a wing back whilst Cody Drameh was decent although his crosses on the overlap lacked quality.
There was nothing much wrong with midfield, either, with Beilik (own goal apart) and Ivan Sunjic workmanlike and Koji Myoshi a superb bag of tricks.
Up front Jay Stansfield scored another excellent goal to give Blues the lead and was a real handful so it was galling to lose a match we should have won. Oliver Burke remains an enigma, going missing some of the time but at the same time looking dangerous in patches. Maybe, yet again, the substitutions were made too late by John Eustace. Either way the game at home to QPR on Friday night is now a must-win if we are to regain some momentum.
