Alan Browne on why his first goal of the season was timely for Preston North End

Browne, who scored 13 times last season, was without a goal prior to North End’s 3-1 win.

The Irishman arrived at the right time to get on the end of a Tom Barkhuizen cross to volley home at the near post, with Town keeper Kamil Grabara only able to parry into the netting inside of his post.

North End’s No.8 is glad to be off the mark, largely down to what he expects of himself.

He said: “It’s about time, I went long enough without one. I set myself pretty high standards off the back of last season.

“It hasn’t been as good as I would have hoped personally, but collectively to be in the position we are is fantastic. The win keeps momentum going into the international break.

“Hopefully we can continue the same form afterwards.

“We were on top for pretty much all of the game, they had a good 10-minute spell but apart from that they didn’t really cause us much problems. We thoroughly deserved the win.

“Any team would love an early goal going into any game.

“It settles the nerves a bit and it means they have to come out and play and that’s where we’re at our best, counter-attacking teams, and it worked out perfectly.”

Although the early goal got Preston off to the fast start we are used to seeing from them, especially at Deepdale, Browne thought the second goal was just as important.

Having doubled North End’s lead, Browne felt he had given Huddersfield an unassailable mountain to climb, with attacking play a big part of Alex Neil’s impact at the club.

“It’s important to get the second goal – the longer the game goes on at 1-0 the more they build confidence and momentum,” he said.

“They can always nick one and get back into it. I think the second one probably put it to bed, they looked way off it after that. We dominated, they had 10 minutes but that was about it.

“We have worked on attacking, since the manager’s come to the club. That’s what’s let us down, the final product in the final third.

“Certainly this season, it’s improved massively.

“We are top scorers in the league as far as I know and long may it continue.

“It can always be difficult when players start dropping out through suspension and injuries and we’re well aware of the problems that it may cause you.

“So far this season I don’t think we’ve been too unlucky but today we were missing some really key players and we managed just as well without them.

“The performance there was really comfortable and we deserved the win.”