Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson admits he could sense Preston North End's anxiety in win at Deepdale

Mark Sykes got on the end of a short backpass from Robbie Brady to open the scoring just six minutes into the game before a quick breakaway allowed Sam Bell to double the visitors lead before half time.

Ched Evans scored for Preston in the second half after Max O’Leary spilt Ryan Ledson’s shot but it proved too little too late for the Lilywhites.

The home side were booed off after the Robins netted their second on the stroke of half time – their celebrations cut short by the referee’s whistle. Although Pearson did not try to use North End’s home form against them in the way he set up his team, he was aware of their struggles and picked up on the nervousness inside PR1.

He said: “Preston are an honest side, they work hard, they're more direct than they have been but I suspect that is to simplify the game, and a case of we are vulnerable at times when asked questions physically. I understand that.

"They can build pressure with what is a very good home crowd too. When you're under pressure in terms of your home results it builds a bit of anxiety, players are humans.

"They don't go out there to make mistakes but I thought they gave everything and it was an honest performance. We defended well but we had to.

"We didn't talk about their home form much, we were aware of it but I don't need to sell that. The players are very aware of what the situation is.

"My view on preparing my own team is to try and get us to our best, we can only affect our opponents by playing well ourselves. We can't get them with words.”

The Robins secured their first win at Deepdale in 12 years and completed a double for the first time in nearly 30 years thanks to victory on Saturday – a win that saw them move nine points clear of the bottom three.

But Pearson admitted it wasn’t a classic, not that he minded.

He said: "It'll just go down as an away win, it wasn't the prettiest. It was a bit tetchy at times as well but I don't mind that either. Preston have been in need of a turnaround in results at home but they've been very good on the road.

"You could sense there was a bit of frustration there. It was a game where we needed to be up for the battle. There was a lot of aerial balls and a lot of defending to be done. We defended really well from set plays.

"It was a good collective effort in terms of trying to win a game that was very scruffy. The first goal is a great bit of anticipation from Mark Sykes, it's a great ball from Kal Naismith and Robbie Brady thought he had time to play it back but it's great anticipation from Mark Sykes.

"The second one is an excellent piece of skill from Alex Scott and our strikers then do what they're very good at it, and that is pouncing on an opportunity to counter attack."