Rowett On Blue Army’s ‘Huge Difference’

Although disappointed to only take a point from Friday’s 2-2 draw with Preston North End, Manager Gary Rowett was enthused by much of the performance and the backing of the fans at King Power Stadium.

2026-04-04T07:20+01:00

by Sam Stevens

Published

04 Apr, 2026

Rowett On Blue Army’s ‘Huge Difference’

Although disappointed to only take a point from Friday’s 2-2 draw with Preston North End, Manager Gary Rowett was enthused by much of the performance and the backing of the fans at King Power Stadium.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-04T07:20+01:00

Rowett On Blue Army’s ‘Huge Difference’

Although disappointed to only take a point from Friday’s 2-2 draw with Preston North End, Manager Gary Rowett was enthused by much of the performance and the backing of the fans at King Power Stadium.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-04T07:20+01:00

Rowett On Blue Army’s ‘Huge Difference’

Although disappointed to only take a point from Friday’s 2-2 draw with Preston North End, Manager Gary Rowett was enthused by much of the performance and the backing of the fans at King Power Stadium.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-04T07:20+01:00

Rowett On Blue Army’s ‘Huge Difference’

Although disappointed to only take a point from Friday’s 2-2 draw with Preston North End, Manager Gary Rowett was enthused by much of the performance and the backing of the fans at King Power Stadium.

Sam Stevens

2026-04-04T07:20+01:00

We were held to a 2-2 draw by Preston North End at King Power Stadium on Friday
Patson Daka struck twice at King Power Stadium
Manager Gary Rowett was frustrated not to win, but pleased with a lot of the display in LE2
He also credits the Blue Army for the impact they made from the stands

Patson Daka’s fourth-minute opener was overturned by first-half efforts from Andrew Moran and Ben Whiteman before the break, with Daka later striking again nine minutes from time to rescue a point.

We couldn’t make it three on Filbert Way, despite sustained pressure on the Lilywhites’ goal late on, which was a source of frustration for Rowett. Nevertheless, with six games to go, the Manager was pleased with a lot of what he saw from his side and also the impact of the Blue Army in the stands.

“We were pretty dominant,” he said, giving his overall assessment of the game. “I don’t like saying that sometimes because that maybe takes a little bit away from the opposition and Preston certainly made it a very difficult game for us.

“If you look at it, the way we started, we pressed really well. Pato capitalises on an error from them and we end up getting an early goal.

“After that, there was a lot of good play, a lot of control. Of course, they’re always going to be a little bit dangerous on the transition, with the pace and power that they’ve got in the team.

“They can mix the game up. They can play, they can be a little bit more direct, which they tried to do against our right-hand side a little bit more. But I thought we coped with it really well.

“I’m not quite sure if I’ve ever played in a game in my whole entire career, or managed a game, where we’ve played that well and suddenly come in 2-1 down.

“That feels like a lot of the games, where we give silly goals away. The first one comes from a throw-in, where we lose it, and then we give them a free hit at attacking.

“The second one comes from giving the ball away, we give away a set-piece, and then exactly the same. I’m really frustrated with the two goals, but again, I felt as though, if we kept our heads, kept doing the same things, if we didn’t chase the game too openly and give them opportunities, I felt as though we could win the game still.

“That’s sort of how the game panned out. We got the goal, again capitalising on another opportunity. There was quite a few of those.

“I actually felt the lad was lucky not to get a red card, the one where Pato gets brought down and, of course, Skippy goes in. If he scores, I’m not going to complain about it, but it was a clear foul when Pato was running through.”

With two points earned from dominant displays against Watford, a 0-0 draw before the international break, and this 2-2 draw with Preston, Rowett believes it should have been six, but now our focus switches to Sheffield Wednesday away on Monday.

With the backing of a sold-out away end at Hillsborough, we’re hoping to collect a crucial victory which could lift us out of the bottom three.

“There was a lot of good things, a lot of attempts on goal, lots of good, structured attacking play,” the Manager added. “We’re trying to do anything we can to win games.

“I’ll be honest, I can’t quite understand, with the away game at Watford and now the home game, how we haven’t won both of those games really.

“I’m not quite sure what else we need to do, but I’ve been pleased with a lot of the performance. I’m pleased with the crowd’s reaction as well.

“We spoke about it. It’s not easy when you’ve been through some of the things that our fans have been through, of course, and I get it – but I asked them to get behind the team and put their grievances to one side and they certainly did that.

“They got behind the team. I thought it made a huge difference. Hopefully they saw a team doing everything they can to try and win the game and I’m really disappointed we couldn’t give them the three points.”

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