West Brom end Preston's revival with ruthless second-half display
Maja and Dike's clinical finishing condemns Preston to defeat despite dominating possession. West Brom climb out of the relegation zone with a deserved away victory.
0–2
FT18 Apr 20262 min read
Match ReportWritten by MatchDay UK
Preston had possession. West Brom had everything else. That was the uncomfortable truth of this Championship encounter, one that saw the Baggies climb out of the bottom three with a performance that proved clinical finishing beats pretty passing every single time.
Maja set the tone just eleven minutes in, bundling home from close range after Heggebo had worked the space down the left. It was scrappy, it was undeserving of beauty, but it was effective. Preston huffed and puffed, monopolising the ball with 53 percent possession, yet they managed just one shot on target across the entire ninety minutes. That statistic alone tells you everything you need to know about their afternoon.
The hosts should have done better. They earned eight corners to West Brom's six, forced the issue with 382 passes against 340, yet never truly threatened the away side's goalkeeper. When you're camping outside the opposition box and still can't generate clear-cut chances, your attacking play has fundamentally failed. Preston's expected goals figure of 0.43 was damning: they simply didn't create what they needed to. introduction at the hour mark injected some urgency, but by then the damage was done.
