Late win was the least Preston North End deserved against Swansea City says Frankie McAvoy

PNE were positive and aggressive throughout the piece and if either side were to win it, it was the Lilywhites.

That proved to be the case as a late long throw from Tom Barkhuizen was kept alive, with Scott Sinclair getting the chance one on one and his saved shot ricocheted off Matt Grimes and into the Swansea net.

It was the first win of the McAvoy era, and the second late goal. Last time out against Norwich City his side took a point with just seconds to go in a 1-1 draw, this time there were only minutes to go as they secured all three points for the first time at the Liberty Stadium.

"I'm just delighted for the players, it was the least they deserved if I'm being honest. In the first half in particular they played really well," McAvoy said.

"We tried last week, we worked on our diamond midfield against Norwich which probably allowed Norwich too many chances and opportunities when they had the ball, a small change today I thought we'd go with the 3-5-2.

"I thought we looked a lot more solid, which was pleasing.

"We worked on a lot of things going into the game and a lot of them came into fruition.

"We had a corner and we'd worked on set plays, it was excellent and I thought we were unfortunate that Ben (Whiteman) didn't score from it.

"I thought we could cause Swansea some problems with our long throws because Tom Barkhuizen has got those in his armoury, we're fortunate enough that it falls to Scotty.

"I'm led to believe it came off the Swansea boy but he was there and he was sniffing about, fortunately we got the win. I'm delighted for the players and I'm delighted for the players back home."

The timing of PNE's goal was no real surprise to their interim boss.

Though performances and result of late haven't been the best, McAvoy had faith in the togetherness in the squad and felt it just needed channeling in a slightly different way.

He said: "That's what we've asked of them.

"They've always had that, there's great camaraderie and mutual trust and friendship within the group, which is excellent.

"It's always been there, it's just a case of refocusing it and sending the messages. I'm delighted for them."

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