Report: Final-day win secures home second leg in play-offs

Goals early in each half from Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Ross Stewart, who reached double figures for the campaign, gave Saints’ bumper away following plenty to cheer.

The packed away end created a party atmosphere inside Deepdale that was not dampened by Lewis Dobbin’s very avoidable reply on the hour, before substitute Cyle Larin sealed victory in stoppage time.

It means Saints finished fourth in the table, the same position from which they were promoted two seasons ago, if positive omens are anything to go by.

Tonda Eckert made four changes following Tuesday’s thrilling 2-2 draw with Ipswich at St Mary’s, a result that ended Saints’ automatic promotion hopes and left them relying on results elsewhere to secure a home second leg in the play-off semi-finals.

Full-backs James Bree and Ryan Manning were both given a rest along with Finn Azaz and Cyle Larin, as Cameron Bragg, Welington, Cameron Archer and Stewart returned to the starting line-up, with Shea Charles operating in the unfamiliar role of right-back.

Saints, backed by around 5,500 travelling fans behind Daniel Peretz’s goal in the first half, carved out the first chance when Archer surged over the halfway line and found Tom Fellows on the right, whose cross was met by a Stewart header that just cleared the crossbar.

Ross Stewart goes close from an early headed chance

The same combination nearly produced the goods again soon after, and when Stewart’s header was blocked, Preston failed to clear the danger.

Keeping the pressure alive, Saints played the ball wide to Welington on the left, whose run to the byline was followed by a measured cross into the box for Harwood-Bellis, who still had plenty to do but met the ball superbly in the air with a perfectly-placed header to beat goalkeeper Daniel Iversen high to his left.

Things almost got worse for Iversen when he dallied in possession, allowing Stewart to charge down his attempted clearance and send the ball flying narrowly wide of the unguarded net.

Saints were all over their mid-table hosts. It was party time in the bouncing away end, who nearly had a first-time scorer to celebrate when Fellows flashed a shot inches wide of Iversen’s right-hand post.

The hosts had been invisible as an attacking force, but only the heroics of Peretz prevented a Preston equaliser 20 minutes in.

After parrying Alfie Devine’s thunderous volley, Peretz was sent stooping to his left to keep out captain Ben Whiteman with a stunning one-handed stop.

Around 5,500 Saints fans made the long journey to Deepdale

Saints remained comfortable, but an even better chance eluded the hosts when Liam Lindsay was left completely unmarked to meet a right-wing corner, but inexplicably sent his header wide of the target with Peretz rooted to the spot.

By the end of the half the home side were undeniably on top, with Saints having struggled to build on their fast start. Andrija Vukčević crossed from the left for Dobbin, whose strong header was not only saved by Peretz, but caught.

Two half-time substitutions for the hosts included a change in goal, as David Cornell donned the gloves for the second period, but within two minutes found himself fishing the ball out of his own net.

When Archer broke free down the right, his low cross was collected by Stewart with his back to goal, but the striker was patient, biding his time to work the ball into a shooting position and finding the bottom corner with a precise left-footed shot through the eye of a needle.

The Preston response was a curling effort from Andrew Moran that had Peretz scrambling and relieved to see the ball sail wide.

Saints had a couple of long shots of their own, as Scienza blasted over and Charles forced a low save, before an uncharacteristic mishap from the previously faultless Peretz gifted the home team a route back into the match on the hour.

Ross Stewart's left-footed shot finds the bottom corner

There seemed no danger when a hopeful long ball into the left channel was chased by Dobbin, but Peretz misjudged it and lost his footing after racing out of his penalty area, allowing the striker to walk the ball into the net and halve the deficit.

Eckert turned to his bench midway through the second half, as Bree, Larin and Azaz were summoned to replace Bragg, Stewart and Archer, who had just flashed two half-chances wide before departing to polite applause, having enjoyed a fruitful loan spell at Deepdale in which he scored a famous winner against rivals Blackpool.

Preston pushed without every really carving out a notable chance to equalise, and substitute Larin made the game safe with the ninth goal of a very fruitful loan spell, tapping home Caspar Jander’s fizzing low cross as Saints signed off in style.

Another substitute, Manning, was only inches away from joining Larin on nine goals when his 25-yard free-kick struck the post, but Saints could hardly have asked for more on another successful day that extended their unbeaten run to 19 league matches.

Preston North End: Iversen (Cornell 46), Storey (Offiah 46), Lindsay, Hughes, Vukčević, Potts, Devine (Thompson 58), Whiteman (c), Moran (Brady 76), Jebbison (Osmajić 58), Dobbin.

Subs not used: Valentín, Small, McCann, Smith.

Goals: Dobbin (60’).

Booked: Storey, Moran.

Southampton: Peretz, Charles, Harwood-Bellis (c), Wood, Welington (Manning 77), Bragg (Bree 68), Jander, Fellows (Edozie 84), Archer (Azaz 69), Scienza, Stewart (Larin 69).

Subs not used: Long, Quarshie, Romeu, Oyekunle.

Goals: Harwood-Bellis (12’), Stewart (47’), Larin (90+1’).

Booked: Azaz.

Attendance: 20,085.

Referee: Stephen Martin.