Preston gave Graham Alexander a blueprint, then threw away two points

Alexander confronts the storm at Deepdale

Deepdale was drenched in relentless Lancashire rain on Saturday afternoon. Gusting winds turned routine clearances into aerial lotteries. Graham Alexander took his seat in the home dugout facing the Championship's toughest rescue mission. Preston North End began October 24, 2026 bottom of the table, reeling from the midweek departure of two first-team coaches.

Alexander demanded an instant response from a deflated squad. Preston pressed with unexpected venom from the opening kick, pushing their defensive line high and disrupting West Bromwich Albion before the visitors settled.

Inside two minutes, Johnny Kenny tested Albion goalkeeper Max O'Leary with a stinging low drive. The strike was speculative, but it forced O'Leary down to his right. Bottom of the table or not, Preston arrived with clear intent.

Moments later, Leo Leroy pressed aggressively into the right channel. The midfielder worked an angle and dragged a low effort across the face of goal. West Brom looked completely rattled by North End's early harassment.

Sluggish starts have become a recurring defect for James Morrison's side. Last weekend, Albion trailed Blackburn 2-0 inside twelve minutes before rallying to win. At Deepdale, their backline once again appeared brittle under early pressure.

Preston used the swirling wind to bypass midfield traps. Kenny and Delano Burgzorg chased every loose clearance, giving West Brom's centre-backs no peace. Alexander instructed his side to hit direct diagonals into the channels rather than risk central turnovers.

West Brom settle and expose Preston's midfield gaps

Albion required nearly half an hour to respond. When Morrison's side finally found traction, it came through the clever movement of Isaac Price. The Northern Ireland midfielder drifted between Preston's lines, finding unoccupied pockets of space.

Price crafted Albion's first genuine opening in the 28th minute. Cutting inside onto his right foot, he curled a strike toward the far corner. Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen anticipated the trajectory, diving smartly across his goalmouth to turn the ball away.

That save preserved parity, but it exposed a structural flaw in Alexander's setup. Whenever Leroy pressed forward, nobody dropped back to cover the central space. West Brom quickly recognized the gap and began targeting it directly.

Jayson Molumby gradually exerted influence. Dropping deep, the midfielder threaded crisp passes through Preston's lines to relieve pressure on Albion's defenders. West Brom slowly adapted to the blustery conditions, pushing North End deeper into their own territory.

Albion should have punished North End twelve minutes before the interval. Molumby whipped a wind-assisted cross into the six-yard box. Price timed his run perfectly, slipping free from his marker with an unmarked blindside dart.

The finish was shockingly wasteful. Unmarked inside the six-yard box, Price steered the ball wide of the target. Alexander exhaled on the touchline, well aware that Championship opponents rarely grant second reprieves from that range.

Burgzorg's glaring miss and an end-to-end brawl

Preston emerged from the break with renewed bite. Within sixty seconds of the restart, Kenny sliced open West Brom's defense with a through ball into the box. Burgzorg latched onto the pass, hammering a powerful drive that O'Leary parried well.

Kenny went from provider to shooter moments later. Cutting inside the penalty area, he aimed a low strike toward the near post. O'Leary held on comfortably, but North End remained firmly on the front foot.

Then arrived the game's most unforgivable miss in the 54th minute. Stanley Mills surged down the right flank, skipping past his marker before whipping a low delivery across the box. The cross evaded O'Leary, leaving the goal completely open for Burgzorg.

With the goal gaping, Burgzorg inexplicably stabbed his effort wide from point-blank range. Deepdale gasped in collective disbelief. Mills had provided the perfect delivery, taking West Brom's entire defense out of the equation, only for North End to squander it.

The contest quickly exploded into a chaotic, end-to-end scrap. Andrija Vukcevic whipped an inviting cross into the box that Kenny headed narrowly over the crossbar. West Brom broke forward in response and nearly snatched the lead seconds later.

Brayann Pereira contested a high ball, his header ricocheting into the path of Felix Myhre. Myhre prodded from point-blank range, but Iversen produced a sensational reflex save. Both teams were trading heavy punches without midfield restraint.

Four minutes of ecstasy erased by defensive hesitation

Preston's persistence finally paid off in the 78th minute. Leroy curled a corner into a crowded box, using the wind to cause havoc. The West Brom defense committed a basic blunder by allowing the ball to bounce freely.

Andrew Hughes pounced instantly. The defender hooked the bouncing ball into the net, sparking pandemonium across Deepdale. For four glorious minutes, Alexander appeared headed for a dream debut win.

Holding onto leads requires tactical discipline and calm heads. Those are precisely the traits Preston currently lack. Having earned the lead, North End completely botched the closing stages.

Morrison had introduced Aune Heggebo on the hour mark to add raw physical presence. The Norwegian striker began troubling Preston's backline with his aerial strength. His aggression pinned North End's defenders deep, creating room for West Brom's midfielders to attack second balls.

That pressure told in the 82nd minute. Price unleashed a close-range strike that Iversen brilliantly tipped onto the post. But while Iversen scrambled on the turf, Preston's defenders stood frozen, failing to clear the loose ball.

Heggebo needed no second invitation. The Norwegian slammed the rebound into the net to seal a 1-1 draw. Preston held their lead for barely 240 seconds before surrendering it to basic defensive hesitation.

That defensive breakdown wiped out an afternoon of relentless running. Championship survival cannot happen when teams switch off after scoring. It was a brutal illustration of why Preston entered the weekend bottom of the division.

The Championship survival fight and Morrison's rescue act

West Brom will take pride in their resilience. Morrison's squad have developed an uncanny knack for rescuing results, having overturned deficits against Blackburn and Wrexham in their last two outings. Even when performing below their best, Albion find ways to salvage points on the road.

For Preston, the disappointment was obvious at the final whistle. Alexander secured his first point as boss, as detailed in the Sky Sports match report. Yet celebrating a single point at home feels hollow when victory was within reach.

Saturday's wider Championship results underlined the ruthless nature of the division. Blackburn Rovers swept past Wrexham 2-0 behind an Andri Gudjohnsen double, while Queens Park Rangers demolished Swansea City 5-0 thanks to an early Richard Kone hat-trick. Those clinical displays showed the cutting edge Preston lacked.

Elsewhere, Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Watford 1-0 through Adam Armstrong, Cardiff City edged Birmingham City 1-0 behind Yousef Salech, and Southampton topped West Ham 3-2 in a thriller. Meanwhile, Stoke City and Bristol City fought to a goalless draw. In a tightly packed division, dropped home points become heavy burdens.

Alexander must address his squad's composure in both penalty areas immediately. Burgzorg's squandered tap-in and the defensive paralysis on Heggebo's equalizer were individual errors tactical schemes cannot disguise. Until Preston develop a ruthless edge, coaching tweaks will only carry them so far.

Still, the afternoon provided genuine positives. Despite losing two first-team coaches earlier in the week, Preston competed with real bite. Direct running from Mills and Kenny gave supporters a template for how this side can compete.

As noted in the Deepdale match coverage, halting the slide offers Alexander a modest platform. But single points will not drag clubs off the bottom of the table. Preston must learn how to close out games, or survival will remain out of reach.