Preston climb table after Ched Evans double secures derby win at Blackburn

Ched Evans scored twice as Preston defeated Blackburn 4-1 at Ewood Park to move into the Championship’s top six.

Ryan Lowe’s side comprehensively outfought and outplayed their Lancashire rivals with a ruthless display. Ben Woodburn’s cool 17th-minute finish set the visitors on their way and Evans swept home from close range minutes after the restart to put Preston in control.

Blackburn rallied and got back into the game through Bradley Dack in the 55th minute but Preston clinically put their hosts to the sword with two goals in the space of three second-half minutes through Evans’ powerful header and Ben Whiteman’s deflected 65th-minute drive.

Preston’s fourth win in five matches sees them climb to fourth, a place behind their opponents. For all the visitors’ brilliance, Blackburn gifted the opening two goals in particular and were completely out of sorts in a successive derby defeat.

The visitors settled quickest and went ahead in the 17th minute when Ryan Ledson cut out a poor Scott Wharton pass and fed Evans, whose perfectly-weighted ball found Woodburn in space on the edge of the box and he calmly lifted the ball into the bottom right corner.

Preston’s Ben Woodburn scores against Blackburn Rovers. Photograph: Barrington Coombs/PA

The break could not come soon enough for Blackburn but they inflicted more punishment on themselves two minutes after the restart as Lewis Travis was robbed at the edge of his own area by Woodburn before Daniel Johnson marched into the box and crossed for Evans to calmly slot home from 10 yards.

Blackburn needed a spark and they got it in the 55th minute when Hayden Carter’s deep cross was brilliantly kept in by Ben Brereton Díaz and Dack reacted quickest to slam the ball home from close range. Preston continued to press, as Potts saw a 25-yard shot brilliantly tipped over by Thomas Kaminski before Liam Lindsay headed the resulting corner wide.

The visitors got the goal their positivity deserved when a teasing Greg Cunningham cross was met by a towering Evans header in the 63rd minute that flew beyond Kaminski. Two minutes later, the Preston cut Blackburn open once again when Johnson fed Whiteman on the edge of the area and his low drive was deflected into the bottom corner.

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