Reaction from Deepdale as Stoke City lose 3-1 to Preston North End
22:14, 20 Mar 2026Updated 22:27, 20 Mar 2026
Milutin Osmajic heads in Preston’s second in a 3-1 win over Stoke.(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
Stoke City conspired to throw away a lead at a Preston North End team in dreadful form and lose 3-1.
Sorba Thomas had put Stoke in front in the opening stages with a brilliantly-taken goal and the mood was sour in the home stands, who had seen their side lose their four previous games – and had only won one of the previous 12.
But the Potters let Preston back with woeful defending, starting with letting Alfie Devine have the run of the pitch to equalise from a Stoke attacking throw.
Injuries forced off Junior Tchamadeu and Steven Nzonzi before Preston scored twice in three minutes leading up to the hour mark. Milutin Osmajic scored with an unmarked header before Devine was unmarked to wrap things up on another counter.
Stoke couldn’t muster any real kind of response and go into the international break in a foul mood.
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Mark Robins had made two changes to his starting XI, bringing in Ben Gibson and Ben Pearson at the expense of Maksym Talovierov and Bae Junho. Talovierov’s injury will be assessed amid reports back in Ukraine that he could be ruled out for the rest of the season.
Preston forced a couple of early corners but Stoke were still ahead by the fourth minute.
A powerful drive forward from Junior Tchamadeu was capped by the right-back swinging a superb cross over to the back post where Thomas was waiting to catch brilliantly on the volley and send a shot slamming on the bounce past Daniel Iversen. That was his 10th goal of an excellent first season at the club and about 3,000 Stoke fans were in full voice in the away end.
But Preston were level after 15 minutes – when the hosts broke quickly from a Stoke attacking throw-in. Former Potter Andrew Moran played a pass that dissected Stoke’s high line and sent Devine clear into the Stoke half to sprint into a one-on-one with Tommy Simkin. He kept his cool and picked out the far corner.
Another former Potter, Liam Lindsay, might have put Preston into the lead when he had too free a header at a corner but he nodded over. Moran couldn’t control in the box for what should have been another big chance. Pressure built a little and Nzonzi and Gibson needed to get their head on corners.
Stoke maintained a threat on the break and Ben Whiteman went into the book when he launched himself late into Thomas, who was sprinting down the left on the counter. It didn’t look clever in real time nor on replays and Stoke supporters were asking ref Farai Hallam if he would have shown a red had it been a Stoke player.
Tchamadeu, only just back from injury, was withdrawn at half-time. Thomas went to right back as Jesurun Rak-Sakyi took over on the left wing.
Sam Gallagher got the call too, replacing Milan Smit up front and, within a minute of the re-start, Nzonzi had to be taken off. Bae Junho was sent on and Rigo dropped deeper next to Pearson. If there was hope they would help Stoke chase the win, that was much mistaken and two goals in three minutes put Preston in control.
Gibson was penalised for holding Osmajic near the half-way line and the defending from the resulting free-kick was embarrassing. Pearson was lackadaisical as he let Dobbin cross to the near post, where Rigo and Eric Bocat had allowed Osmajic a free run to head home.
Pearson looked culpable again for the third as Preston broke through midfield so easily and Osmajic squared to unmarked Devine to get his second.
Stoke looked shot and, barring a couple of minutes of pressure when Junho stuck in a good deep cross, struggled to threaten a way back into the game. Gallagher couldn’t force the ball home from that cross and Rigo couldn’t make the most of the follow-up before a Bocat shot was deflected wide.
Rak-Sakyi should have done better when he was picked out by Junho in added time but couldn’t control nor take advantage of a spill from Iversen.
Plenty of Stoke fans were filing for the exit long before the end, having voiced their frustration at how the evening had panned out.
Here are the player ratings from Deepdale
Simkin: Will think he might have been able to stop Devine equaliser in particular and looked uncertain at times. 5
Tchamadeu: First class run and cross to set up early goal for Thomas. A big blow to lose him again at half-time. 7.5
Bocat: Some strange decisions and didn’t look particularly able to defend with any discipline. 4
Phillips: A willing defender but too much for him to do on his own but also struggled with Osmajic. 5.5
Gibson: A handy presence when defending corners but had his hands full with Osmajic. 5.5
Pearson: Shambolic attempt at defending for Preston’s second and third goals. 3.5
Nzonzi: Useful with his height at set pieces but didn’t always seem happy with the balance of midfield. Needed physio treatment before being withdrawn. 5.5
Rigo: Struggled to sustain an impact in a more attacking role and couldn’t take responsibility when Osmajic 5
Manhoef: Good battle with Vukcevic but it was the left-back who came out on top. 6
Thomas: Superb finish for 10th goal of season, winding up home supporters with his swaggering celebration. Had to revert to right-back in second half. 7
Smit: Put himself about in battle with centre-backs and was ready to chase defenders and attack crosses. 6
Substitutes
Gallagher (for Smit, 46): Thrown on to try to chase the win but Stoke couldn’t give him support. 6
Rak-Sakyi (for Tchamadeu, 46): Hasn’t been able to impact games as expected so far. Could probably have scored in added time. 5
Junho (for Nzonzi, 47): A couple of decent crosses from the left. 6
Mubama (for Manhoef, 66): A welcome return from injury but unable to get into the game. 5.5
Not used: Fielding, Seko, Lawal, Cisse, Agina.
Referee: Farai Hallam (Surrey) 5
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