The Lilywhites were denied maximum points on the road by a late equaliser from the Canaries
Tom Barkhuizen played from start to finish as Preston North End played a 2-2 draw with Norwich City at Carrow Road in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.
The Canaries began their season with a 1-0 loss at home to Andre Ayew’s Swansea City last weekend, but made amends with a 2-1 at Derby County in the EFL Cup second round in midweek with Barkhuizen getting the equaliser off the bench after the Lilywhites fell behind to a Jason Knight goal in the 51st minute.
The result booked them a date with Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion in the third round on Wednesday.
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📋 Team News: Your #pnefc line up for this afternoon’s clash with @NorwichCityFC. 👇#COYW pic.twitter.com/2BB6GvC83i
— Preston North End FC (@pnefc) September 19, 2020
Alex Neil’s men took the lead in East Anglia on Saturday through a Scott Sinclair penalty in the 14th minute only for Teemu Pukki to equalise for Norwich in the 31st minute. Darnell Fisher would give Preston a 2-1 lead with three minutes left to the half-time break and it remained that way until Przemyslaw Placheta killed Preston’s chances of taking three points back to Deepdale with his 85th-minute equaliser.
Barkhuizen’s 90 minutes on the pitch saw him produce 64 touches and 28 accurate passes from 38 (74%). The Anglo-South African was impressive defensively winning six of 13 total duels, making one interception, two tackles and three clearances.
The 27-year-old was ever-present for Preston last season, playing in 44 of the 46 Championship regular-season games, scoring nine goals and providing five assists. His most impactful games were in a 3-2 win at home to Blackburn Rovers and a 3-0 win at Barnsley, scoring braces in both.
Preston narrowly missed out on the promotion play-offs, finishing four points adrift of the money-spinning positions.
Barkhuizen has been at Preston since 2017 and has made 152 competitive appearances, scoring 34 goals and providing 17 assists. He has previously played for Blackpool, Hereford United, Fleetwood Town and Morecambe.
Preston will host John Obi Mikel’s Stoke City at Deepdale next Saturday.
