West Bromwich Albion always seem to find a way. The Baggies were staring down the barrel of a bore draw before a questionable incident occurred in the final minute of regulation time.
Those in the west Midlands won’t care though, they rise back into top spot, leapfrogging Leeds United, who won emphatically on Saturday, while also opening up a seven-point gap to the playoff zone.
In the 90th minute, winger Kyle Edwards was adjudged to have been fouled by Preston North End goalkeeper Declan Rudd inside the penalty area, despite raucous protests from the home contingent.
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Substitute Charlie Austin stepped up once again and calmly slotted home his fourth of the season to hand Albion all three points at Deepdale.
Sky Sports decided to award the Man of the Match to right-back Nathan Ferguson, which given his contribution to a clean sheet, combined with his four successful dribbles, three tackles and one blocked shot, per SofaScore, they could well have got it spot on, and it appears that the visiting support certainly agree with that.
One supporter said it was fully deserved as he stood out amongst a relatively rare poor performance for the Baggies while another labelled him ‘immense’ following his showing.
Ferguson’s future has been in doubt in recent weeks after the Express & Star revealed they would listen to offers for him in January as he is yet to commit to the club long-term with his contract up at the end of the season.
And following this game, there has been only one thing they all desperately want…
‘Superstar’ and ‘composed’ were two other superlatives used to describe the 19-year-old’s performance while a further supporter told the club to add a few thousand to the deal as he deserves everything he wants.
This saga is undoubtedly only set to rumble on as the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus and Atletico Madrid have all been linked to the Albion academy product.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Hawthorns faithful get the news they desperately want to see with January rapidly looming.
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In other news, former skipper Darren Fletcher has been raving about one of Slaven Bilic’s summer signings…