There was no festive love lost between Preston and Leeds on Boxing Day as an embarrassing red card, a Alan Browne header, a Pascal Struijk penalty and a late Liam Millar winner saw the hosts steal a 2-1 victory.
The volatility of the Championship means that despite winning just one of their previous five matches and conceding 10 goals in the process, Preston are still in with a chance of reaching the Championship playoffs this season.
Leeds made the short hour trip to Lancashire seeking to build on their surprise thrashing of title-contenders Ipswich last time out. Along with Ipswich and Leicester, they are one of the few teams that boasts Premier League quality in their ranks.
Boxing Day matches are usually slow-starters, Christmas turkey, a rare glass of wine and a possible light training session isn’t your typical pre-match preparation for athletes, but that’s just one reason why this is one of the most-loved days on the English football calendar.
There was definite rust in the opening exchanges, both wanting to counter-attack cancelled out by a lack of control in midfield, but the hosts looked most likely of scoring first with Liam Millar and Duane Holmes threatening.
Liam Millar (second left) is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winner for Preston in their 2-1 victory over Leeds at Deepdale on Boxing Day
Alan Browne (left) put Preston 1-0 up early in the second half against Leeds
Leeds wanted to play tip-tap football and were met with robust challenges that stopped them from building any early control. Preston skipper Alan Browne flew into a challenge on Crysencio Summerville just after the 10th minute and the Dutchman gingerly got to his feet afterwards before being hacked down again. Boxing Day in the most literal of terms.
Meanwhile, Millar was beginning to win his individual battle against Leeds full-back Archie Gray and should have provided Browne with the game’s opening goal as his dinked cross into the box escaped every defender, but also the Preston captain’s head.
There was cunning in the way Preston defended. They knew Summerville and Daniel James were Leeds’ main threats and in-turn left their mark on them whenever they could. Joel Piroe would later miss a golden chance after being found in the box but tamely hit his shot into a defender.
Millar made stronger connection with his effort at the other end moments later but skied the ball into the stands.
Chances continued to come as players found their rhythm before half time. Georginio Rutter exploited space on the left-wing and found James excellently who could only put his shot into a crowd of back-tracking defenders.
Millar then toyed with Leeds’ defence as he skipped past a challenge and angled an effort on target that forced a strong save from Illan Meslier.
Pascal Struijk equalised from the spot with less than 10 minutes to go and looked to have rescued a point for the visitors
Daniel James won the penalty with eight minutes left that temporarily restored parity
Leeds manager Daniel Farke was unimpressed with his team’s display on Boxing Day
Challenges brought intensity into the match in the minutes preceding half time as the referee toed the line brilliantly between what was too strong and what wasn’t.
Leeds benefitted the most as they showed glimpses of exerting control but neither side could break the deadlock before the interval as quality in the final third let them down.
The visitors continued exerting control at the start of the second half and were denied the lead by a brillaint piece of defending by Ben Whiteman as he stole the ball off the toes of Piroe just when he was about to shoot.
Things had livened up and then boiled over when Meslier was shown a red card for swiping Milutin Osmajic in the face. The Leeds goalkeeper and Browne initially squared up to each other after the ball had gone out of play before Osmajic ran over and pushed Meslier.
The visitors had Illan Meslier (second left) sent off early in the second half for pushing Preston’s Milutin Osmajic in the face
The Leeds keeper (far right) looked far from happy with the referee’s decision
The Preston forward got involved when he didn’t need to and pathetically collapsed to the ground when Meslier stroked his face. Disgraceful play acting by the 24-year-old resulted in the Leeds shot-stopper being sent off.
Preston capitalised on their advantage less than five-minutes later when Browne directed a header past replacement goalkeeper Karl Darlow to give the hosts the lead.
Leeds responded brightly with Rutter surging through three Preston players and winning a corner on one occasion, but their numerical disadvantage meant chances were rare and speculative at best.
Meanwhile, the hosts tried to manage the game and only committed bodies forward when there was a strong chance of a goal.
Football, like life, has a way of righting wrongs and with just minutes remaining at Deepdale it did exactly that. James burst into the box and contact from Ali McCann saw the Welshman hit the ground. A penalty was given, Struijk slotted the spot-kick into the corner and 10-men Leeds restored deserved parity.
Preston momentarily lost their heads in the immediate aftermath but recovered to fashion one final chance that Millar created and finished beautifully. The 24-year-old had been his side’s star player and when he cut inside onto his favoured right-foot in the 89th-minute there was only one destination for his shot; the top corner.
Chaos gripped Deepdale and festive cheer rang out at full time as Preston held on in dramatic circumstances.
