Soccer
Paul Heckingbottom praises Callum Lang’s resilience after Blackburn win
Paul Heckingbottom praised the resilience of two-goal hero Callum Lang after Preston edged past Blackburn 2-1 at Deepdale in the Championship.
The 27-year-old opened the scoring with a poacher’s finish in the ninth minute before nodding in a 28th-minute second.
Stanley Mills accidentally halved the arrears early in the second half when bundling into his own net on just his second Preston start but his team held on for their first win of the season.
On Lang, the Preston boss said: “[Lang’s] worked really hard in the closed season. He was training all summer, but he’s still been careful, sensible within the pre-season and the start of the season with his schedule.
“We want to build up that resilience in his body, definitely. But more importantly, when he’s playing, we want to make sure he can go flat out like he did today.
“Lang [attacks] the ball really well in the box and I think his two goals are a good example of that.
“Two really good goals [from] Lang’s point of view and [that’s] where we wanted him and the deliveries in the box [were good]. But for me, the best thing about us today is that spirit and the determination to see the game out.”
On the game, he said: “[Blackburn] are a bright team. You could see probably the start of the second half shows what they’re all about. They have a lot of rotation, drop players outside, good shape to keep the ball.
“The only time for me where I wasn’t happy with it was at the start of the second half when I felt that [play was] fine, but then they were starting to play through us and putting pressure on us. I think that’s when, for me, today, I felt we were at our most vulnerable.”
Deadline day signings Johnny Kenny and Liam Gibbs came off the bench to make their North End debuts and Heckingbottom added: “They’ll have loved that today and know what we’re all about. We’re trying to get them to understand their role in the team.”
Blackburn had four more shots and two more on-target than Preston, however, Tony Mowbray had no complaints with the way the game went.
When asked if his team deserved more, the Blackburn manager said: “No, not really. I think if you fall below the standard you set yourself, then you shouldn’t really expect that you’re going to win. We came here believing we were going to win and we conceded two really soft goals, which is so unlike us.
“We went to Lincoln just three days ago and it felt like you chased a thousand crosses and we headed them all out. We never really got to the level we needed to to get our second goal.
“At the end of the day, and I don’t think I’m talking out of turn, I think we were ultimately on top for most of the game, possession-wise, pace, field-tilt they call it these days. [Preston’s half] is probably where the game was played mostly.
“But they carried the threat and they scored two goals. That’s probably the game they were looking for. From what I’ve watched, they played a little bit better than losing five games on a bounce, if that’s what it was, so, good luck to them.”
