It wasn't a vintage Bristol City performance by any stretch of the imagination but Rob Atkinson made sure the Robins delivered the response needed to get back to winning ways during the week.
Perhaps it was Preston's tactics that made the contest a rather frustrating watch at times but the noise inside Ashton Gate when Atkinson flung himself at Alex Scott's cross in the 90th minute was something to behold.
We are starting to see a growing trend at home with the way opponents are lining up. Managers are wary of the threat and pace of City's strikers and therefore they are limiting the space in behind and allowing the wing-backs more time and freedom to get forward.
Millwall are an organised bunch under Gary Rowett and are likely to deploy a similar set-up to try and hit City on the counter. They've scored 15 goals and conceded 17 this season which suggests they aren't likely to take too many risks so the emphasis will be on Pearson's men to break them down.
Here's how we think City will shape up this afternoon.
Goalkeeper and defence
Nobody saw Dan Bentley being replaced by Max O'Leary on Wednesday night one day after Nigel Pearson said no player was undroppable in his squad. It will put the captain's long-term future with the club in doubt with his contract expiring at the end of the season.
It was a high pressured call by the manager especially coming off the back of five games without a victory but O'Leary stood up to the task at hand and will be disappointed to not have kept a clean sheet in the 2-1 victory. He had little chance with the goal but made one really smart save in the second half to keep out Emil Riis at a crucial time of the game.
His distribution was also sound and whether the decision to drop Bentley was a message to the rest of the players, O'Leary's performance would have earned him another start against Millwall on Saturday.
There are two guaranteed starters in front of him in Zak Vyner and Rob Atkinson. Both players enjoyed solid evenings against Preston with the latter proving the difference with two excellent headers following a disappointing showing at Birmingham last Saturday.
It's who plays in the middle that remains difficult to predict. Kal Naismith has missed the last two matches with a calf injury and Pearson admitted he would be out of action for around 10 days. That was nine days ago and the manager confirmed on Tuesday that he remains a big doubt to face Millwall.
Timm Klose came in for his first league start of the season against Preston and looked as though he had never been away. He added a calmness to the defence which has been missing at times this season and it will give the manager confidence that bringing Naismith back into the fold may not be worth the risk.
City's next test is at West Brom on Tuesday and therefore Naismith may be afforded a couple more days to fully recover before returning to action.
Wing-backs and midfield
News that Kane Wilson will be ruled out of action for four months after undergoing a knee operation is a crushing blow for him. He's had hardly any luck following his arrival in the summer and this is another cruel setback.
What it does mean is Mark Sykes will need to continue performing to the levels required, as he has done since his move from Oxford United. There may have been one or two games after the international break where he didn't reach levels he has previously shown but he put in a much-needed performance against Preston in the week.
He'll also have done himself no harm in picking up his first assist of the season and hopefully he can start finding those on a regular basis with the number of crosses he puts in. George Tanner is also waiting in the wings but there's no reason why Pearson won't opt with Sykes on Saturday.
On the other side, it's a similar story with Jay Dasilva. He's been largely consistent this season and was a good outlet against Preston having almost grabbed himself a goal when he collected the ball at the backpost.
He can sometimes frustrate with his crossing but Cam Pring doesn't seem to be close to starting ahead of him despite his rare cameo at Birmingham as a substitute.
In midfield, Alex Scott was excellent once again Preston and will start in midfield but the debate is who starts alongside him. Again, we're wondering whether Joe Williams has the fitness required to play two games in four days after featuring for 90 minutes on Wednesday.
Andy King remains an option and his ability to sit in front of the defence will allow Scott the freedom to get forward with Pearson eager for his midfielders to get themselves on the scoresheet. City will also be sweating on the fitness of Matty James who is in a race against the clock to feature following his groin surgery.
He returned to training in the week which indicates he could feature in some capacity and Pearson will be eager to get him back having impressed with his performances this season. Han-Noah Massengo was left out of the squad to take on Preston in favour of Dylan Kadji and it seems the Frenchman is going to find game time hard to come by going forward.
Attackers
Let's get the obvious one out of the way first. Andi Weimann will continue to start behind the two frontmen as he looks to end his own goalscoring drought.
It's been 11 games now without a goal as he looks to rediscover the form that saw him become so influential last season. On Tuesday in the manager's press-conference, Pearson said the Austrian is the sort of player who plays himself out of form and there's no bigger clue that Weimann retains the confidence of the manager than that.
It's in front of him that leaves somewhat of a lottery. Antoine Semenyo's return to fitness means Pearson has the luxury of chopping and changing his front players depending on the opponents.
It was Tommy Conway and Semenyo who led the line on Wednesday and the manager waited until the final eight minutes before introducing Nahki Wells. Whether that was a tactic looking ahead to this game remains to be seen but the latter will be fresh and ready to start from the off if he's handed the opportunity.
Conway started the season on fire but he's had a minor blip in his goalscoring returns as he looks for his first strike in five matches. Although the fact I write that is a testament to how well he has performed thus far.
Pearson may still want to be cautious about Semenyo's minutes given Wednesday was just his second Championship start of the season with an eye on West Brom on Tuesday. He may still be short of his best at the moment but there were still plenty of moments that caused panic in the Preston defence.
A few (including us) had tipped Chris Martin to start against Preston to provide extra security for defending set-pieces but Pearson had other ideas. Either way, the manager will want his frontmen to get back on goalscoring track having gone three and a half games without a goal.
Bristol City (3-4-1-2): Max O'Leary; Zak Vyner, Timm Klose, Rob Atkinson; Mark Sykes, Alex Scott, Matty James, Jay Dasilva; Andi Weimann; Tommy Conway, Nahki Wells
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
READ NEXT
