Emil Riis came off the bench to make it two wins on the bounce for Preston as they beat Middlesbrough 2-1 in the Sky Bet Championship.
The 26-year-old capitalised on a defensive horror show from the visitors in the 78th minute to score his eighth goal of the season and send the home fans wild.
Stefan Thordarson had opened the scoring in the 28th minute before Delano Burgzorg’s 52nd-minute equaliser.
Middlesbrough have now won just one of their last six away matches, leaving Michael Carrick looking over his shoulder at those trying to push for a play-off spot.
Boro started brightly but were dealt a huge blow in the 11th minute as Emmanuel Latte Lath hobbled off after an awkward landing, with Marcus Forss coming on in his place.
The immediate reaction to that was almost the perfect tonic from Michael Carrick’s man as they twice nearly took the lead with Freddie Woodman and Lewis Gibson doing well to block efforts from Burgzorg and Hayden Hackney respectively.
Preston battled back and Mads Frokjaer called Tom Glover into routine action with a tame 14th-minute drive from range, but Woodman had to be far more acrobatic shortly after, dropping low to palm Ben Doak’s cross-cum-shot to safety.
The Lilywhites had largely been second best yet took the lead on the counter attack as Thordarson stormed onto a header forward from Milutin Osmajic before shifting into the box and curling the ball beyond Glover’s reach.
Boro started the second half well though and were soon on level terms as Ben Doak took out the Preston backline with a sublime first-time pass on the swivel and Burgzorg had all the time in the world to steady himself and slot home the equaliser.
Doak was starting to find his feet and, shortly after the goal, he had Woodman scrambling across the goal to turn his bending 25-yard strike around the post just minutes before the Preston stopper’s excellent reaction save to push Forss’ angled shot over the bar.
Middlesbrough were purring at this point and Gibson had to continue his brave display at the centre of the Preston defence with vital blocks against Forss and Finn Azaz just after the hour mark.
It was all one-way traffic but Paul Heckingbottom’s introduction of Riis helped to swing the pendulum back his team’s way in bizarre fashion.
The Teesiders only had themselves to blame as Riis’ initial shot was saved by Glover, but the defence collectively made a complete hash of clearing the ball, allowing Frokajer to tee the Dane once again, and he rifled the winner into the far corner from 10 yards.
