FA Cup victory made for a refreshing change for Preston supporter John Smith

So our win over Huddersfield made for a very refreshing change which ended our dismal sequence of four successive FA Cup third round exits.

As a fan you have to have something to look forward to and this win coupled with the away victory at Stoke City have made it a happy new year so far for the North End faithful after a not so Merry Christmas.

Although I think that in both games there has been plenty of room for improvement performance wise, football is a results-based business and it has been pleasing to see the team summon up some Dunkirk-type fighting spirit in these two much-needed victories.

With the squad being hindered by injuries to some of our key players, it’s been a good effort.

In the first half we had the majority of the play but similar to many home games this season, we did not possess a sharp enough cutting edge in order to make a breakthrough.

The night before the Stoke game, manager Ryan Lowe had allowed the team the privilege of a portion of apple crumble and custard.

Whether or not this was the case before Saturday's game after Huddersfield had taken the lead just before the hour mark, it provided a much needed kick up the backside for our team and the visitors’ defence soon became like a soft crumble whose fruit filling had seeped through to spoiling its previous hard crust topping.

After their defender sliced into his own goal to level up the scores, when two more goals followed it was like the custard had been poured over the pudding in abundance further softening the crumbles crust to ensure a sweet-tasting victory.

It is a good job that there was a goal net to stop man-of-the-match Bambo Diaby's rocket or the ball might have finished up nestled in the back yard of the Royal Consort pub on Meadow Street such was the ferocity of the shot which provided his first goal for the club.

After not being at the races and being way off the pace when losing to Huddersfield two weeks ago, this time we finished the game like a thoroughbred galloping round Tattenham Corner on the Epsom downs.

It was good to see Alan Browne score his first North End goal of the season five minutes from time to wrap it up.

If he was played at wing back on a regular basis we would not need to sign another one and the old argument that he is wasted in that position does not wash with me as in my opinion we have plenty of other players at the club who if needed could soon slot into the midfield roles.