Patience a virtue for Grayson as PNE see off Oldham

Simon Grayson salutes the fans at the final whistle.

PNE prevailed 2-0 at Deepdale but were made to work before Eoin Doyle broke the deadlock on 66 minutes.

Jordan Hugill’s late header, after Doyle had forced an error from Latics stopper Connor Ripley, then confirmed Preston’s place in round three.

Grayson said: “When you’re the team from the higher division you want to make sure there isn’t an upset.

“Tonight they made it difficult for us, they’ve had three games on the trot where they haven’t conceded.

“We knew we had to be patient. They changed the system to match us up which made it a little bit more difficult at times.

“We had to stick to the task, keep going, keep asking questions and ultimately we got another couple of goals and a clean sheet which is nice.

“The last two games have been good, a little bit more positive in everything we are doing so we want to take this confidence and belief into Saturday (at Ipswich) now.”

Chris Maxwell was handed a debut in goal while Simon Makienok got a first start up front as part of six changes.

Grayson said: “Chris Maxwell was very good, very efficient in what he did.

“Simon got through 60 minutes, his first of the season, he’s little bit ring rusty but is only going to get sharper the more he trains and the more he understands the players.”