IT WAS A pretty crazy day at the office for Preston North End’s Paul Gallagher yesterday.
Goalscorer turned goalkeeper, he was key from the moment he was introduced as the Lilywhites drew 1-1 with Ipswich at Portman Road.
Gallagher was sprung from the bench and he grabbed Preston’s equaliser with his first touch in the 74th minute.
He stepped up to take a free-kick just after his introduction and drilled the ball into the bottom left-hand corner to cancel out Freddie Sears’ penalty before half time at the other end.
Two minutes later, the 34-year-old midfielder put his hand up to go in goals after Chris Maxwell was sent off on a second yellow card and Alex Neill had used all three of his available substitutes.
An eventful 15 minutes for Preston's Paul Gallagher.
— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) November 3, 2018
⚽ Scores free kick equaliser
🔴 Preston 'keeper gets sent off
🧤 Gallagher goes in goal
😲 Makes miracle save to secure a point for @PNFC pic.twitter.com/BGMxtNet5k
He saw out the draw between the posts, pulling off a brillaint save to deny Danny Rose on the volley as Preston went home with a point.
“It was incredible,” Gallagher said afterwards, as quoted by the Lancashire post.
“The manager told me to go on the pitch and try and make an impact. Luckily for me we got a free-kick and my first touch was a goal and then my second was a goal kick! I’ve never done that before.
“I was confident, I used to play in goal as a kid, and said to the manager ‘I’ll go in goal’ but he wanted to speak to Louis (Moult).
Come off the bench in the 72nd minute, score in the 73rd minute, in goal by the 75th minute.
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 3, 2018
It was a crazy day for Paul Gallagher!
👉 https://t.co/jslDepCHK6 pic.twitter.com/VcsvUEWUHm
“I was going to tell Louis, ‘Say you don’t want to go in, I’ll go in’. “I was already making his decision for him.
“The most important thing was that we got something out of the game.”
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