Steve Bruce made one change to the side that had comfortably seen off Plymouth Argyle last week with Fabrice Muamba returning to the side at the expense of Mehdi Nafti, who could consider himself very unlucky to have been dropped given his last two displays. Still, Muamba would have considered himself unlucky to have not been in the team, as would Stephen Clemence. It's a nice problem to have, and all that.
Blues' defending throughout the afternoon was as comical as the notion that Preston North End might actually play in the Premiership next season. David Nugent will almost certainly be plying his trade at that level next season, one way or another, but his finishing this afternoon wasn't up to scratch. He should have scored twice in the opening 15 minutes or so as Blues (in particular Radhi Jaidi, Matthew Upson and Mat Sadler) defended like schoolboys. Blind schoolboys. Blind schoolboys with their legs tied together at the ankles.
How Preston weren't ahead in the first half an hour, no one knows. Well, everyone knows - they failed to score - but how they failed to capitalise is beyond me. Anyway, shortly after Upson had a header cleared off the line from a corner (Blues' first real chance of the game) McSheffrey netted to make it 1-0. Sadler decided to give up on trying to defend and broke well down the left and the ball found it's way to McSheffrey who appeared to wrong-foot Carlo Nash with a right-foot strike.
Preston still looked fairly lively with Paul McKenna (who seems to have been playing for Preston since the days of Tom Finney) and Simon Whaley both looking impressive. However it was Blues who scored again about 5 minutes before the break, and it was McSheffrey's right-foot that netted again too. In fact, it was Sadler again who set the goal up, so there you go - a carbon copy (ish) of the first goal with McSheffrey sidestepping Brummie Sean St Ledger in the process.
So, given their shocking defending earlier in the game and then fortuitously going 2-0 up just prior to half-time you'd have thought Blues would just play the half out and get into the dressing room relieved and regroup. No chance. Preston won a corner in first half stoppage time, Maik Taylor came, jumped, opted to stretch out and wait and the ball flew past his fist. The ball dropped and with Taylor in a rubbish position Brett Ormerod of always-scores-in-front-of-the-Tilton fame slammed the ball into the back of the net.
The second half continued in much the same vain, with both teams looking good going forward, Preston looking a bit dodgy at the back and Blues looking like a bunch of clowns at the back. Muamba went close for Blues whilst Nugent was again a threat for Preston until it came to him trying to put the ball in the back of the net. Maybe he was put off by just how bad Jaidi and Upson were. Preston bizarrely took him off and brought on Danny Dichio late on, meaning that Upson and Jaidi who had struggled all game with the pace of Nugent and Ormerod and balls in behind them that they had to turn to deal with (an evident tactic Preston employed well) suddenly had to deal with long balls at a big bloke's head - which would they prefer to deal with? The balls up at Dichio's head, obviously. Albion made a similar bizarre decision at St Andrews not long ago when they brought John Hartson on and it effectively handed the initiative to Blues.
And so it did… McSheffrey should have secured his hat-trick after a fine run by Nicklas Bendtner but McSheffrey's finishing for once let him down. He did get his hat-trick shortly afterwards though when referee Mike Riley pointed to the spot when McSheffrey was hauled down in the penalty area. McSheffrey had previously dived twice looking for penalties, but there wasn't much doubt with this one. Bendtner threw his token petulant strop at not being allowed to take the penalty, but he had no right to really considering McSheffrey had won it, was on a hat-trick and has a superb record throughout his career from the penalty spot. He duly scored, Bendtner didn't join in the celebrations but then played superbly for the remaining few minutes, obviously not letting it all get to him. Yes it was petty, but you can't knock a 18 year-old for wanting to score goals at every given opportunity. I'd rather have people fighting over penalties then no one wanting to take them at all.
A special mention should go to Preston manager Paul Simpson at the end of the game. He'd obviously have been disappointed at the defeat given his side's performance, but he went straight to McSheffrey (who had been taken off to a standing ovation moments before the end of the game) to congratulate him on his hat-trick. A nice touch from a manager who following his amazing job at Carlisle looks like he'll become a fine manager for years to come.
At the end of the day, most teams in this division can compete with one another in the back two thirds of the pitch - on any given day Southend can give Blues a game, Barnsley can give Albion a game, Hull can give Southampton a game, etc, etc. The difference in this division this season will be who has the quality on the final third of the pitch, and Blues have an advantage over any other team in that respect - particularly in McSheffrey and Bendtner. As with football around the world at different levels, it's about putting the ball in the back of the net, and Blues have done that three times in each of their last three games. Yes, Preston looked a better team, and yes, they were better in midfield, but would you take that and a 3-1 defeat over shocking defending, hairy moments but a 3-1 win? Of course you wouldn't.
It sounds strange to say it, but McSheffrey was actually generally pretty poor during the course of the game. He scored three times though. Such players Blues have lacked for a long, long time, but now they've got players like him, they can win games comfortably without even playing too well. Give me that over playing superbly to get a 0-0 draw any day.