As quoted by the Chronicle, Preston North End manager Simon Grayson has gone on to state his belief that Newcastle United were fortunate to beat his side during the weekend.
Newcastle United managed to strengthen their grip at the top of the Championship table with a 2-1 victory over Preston North End at Deepdale on Saturday and it has to be said that the Magpies were made to work very hard on the day.
On the back of a 6-0 thumping over Preston in the midweek EFL Cup clash, Newcastle headed in the game against the same opponents during the weekend full of confidence but Rafael Benitez’s men had to work much harder in order to get the job done this time around.
Many did feel that Newcastle ultimately deserved all three points from the encounter despite their struggles but Preston boss Simon Grayson has gone on to state that the Magpies were fortunate to claim the victory and that they would have been relieved with even a point from the clash.
The 46-year-old was quoted saying by the Chronicle, “If you look at the difference between what the two goalkeepers had to do, it speaks volumes of the players and the way we played.
“We did extremely well, defended strongly and Chris had very little to do. Darlow made some good saves, we should have had two penalties and Marnick hit the post late on as well.
“We asked questions of a really good team; the only difference was, when they got half a chance, they punished us. It was difficult to take, but I am immensely proud of what the players have done – how hard they have worked and what they did when they had the ball.
“We can draw a lot of positives from the game and Newcastle will go away feeling very relieved that they have got three points, when they would probably even have been relieved to have taken one.”
