Preston cemented their position in the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs with
victory against Mick Harford's relegated Rotherham.
Second-half goals from Youl Mawene and former Rotherham winger Chris Sedgwick
were enough for Billy Davies' men to consolidate upon an outstanding record that
now stands at one league defeat in 19 games.
Davies' men still had to do it the hard way as Rotherham went in at the
interval with a 1-0 advantage.
Harford was appointed new boss on Thursday - but will not take over from Alan
Knill until after the game - and was all smiles when Will Hoskins opened the
scoring after 23 minutes.
Hoskins' left-foot shot from 25 yards appeared to be a wayward cross, but
somehow sailed into the back of the net to leave Preston with work to do after
the restart.
But hard graft has underscored Davies' reign since taking over from Craig
Brown at Deepdale and his side did him proud once again.
Sedgwick, a £40,000 buy from the Millers last November, restored parity after
letting fly from 20 yards with an incisive angled strike from Richard Creswell's
through ball to beat Mike Pollitt in the Millers goal.
A sense of inevitability swept through the stands at Millmoor and the
Rotherham fans' unease was to be justified four minutes after the hour mark when
Mawene latched on to Dave Nugent's cute flick-on to steer Preston to three more
crucial points.
Cresswell flung over a dangerous free-kick into the home side's penalty box
which was flicked on by Nugent into the path of Mawene.
The French defender still had plenty of work to do, but his first touch was
good enough to allow him to steer the ball into the left-hand corner of
Pollitt's net.
The home side rarely looked likely of salvaging a point thereafter, and could
have lost by a greater margin had Nugent's wonderful late drive not rifled
against the woodwork and away to safety.
Teams:
Rotherham Pollitt, Scott (Proctor 61), Swailes, McIntosh,
Hurst, Mullin (Barker 53), Vernazza, Keane, Hoskins, Butler,
Thorpe.
Subs Not Used: Montgomery, Warne, Minto.
Booked: Hurst, Scott, Swailes.
Goals: Hoskins 23.
Preston Nash, Alexander, Mawene, Lucketti, Davidson,
Sedgwick (Davis 86), McKenna, O'Neil, Lewis (Hill 67),
Cresswell (Agyemang 90), Nugent.
Subs Not Used: Ward, Etuhu.
Booked: Alexander.
Goals: Sedgwick 51, Mawene 64.
Att: 6,312
Ref: A Penn (W Midlands).
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