Making his mark early in the season so crucial for Preston North End striker Sean Maguire

Sean Maguire takes the ball between Wigan's Nathan Byrne and Michael Jacobs at Deepdale

The Irishman set Preston on their way to a 3-0 victory over Wigan, heading them in front in the sixth minute of the Deepdale clash.

Last season it took him to February to find the net, with two hamstring injuries having kept him out for long spells.

Maguire said: “It was great to score in only the second game because last season I missed the first two months and then got another injury.

“I only scored three goals last season and obviously I want to score a lot more.

“We had a lot to prove after losing at Millwall. To be fair I didn’t think we played too badly there, maybe in the final third we didn’t create enough chances.

“Against Wigan we created enough chances to win two or three games, from the get-go we were brilliant and scoring early helped set the tone.”

Maguire’s opener came when he met a corner from Paul Gallagher to head in.

Louis Moult doubled the advantage later in the first half, then Gallagher netted a superb third goal early in the second half.

Said Maguire: “We’d had three or four corners in a row and for the first couple I was trying to play off the second ball. But the guy marking me was doing a good job.

“So at the fourth time of asking I thought I would take a chance and hit Gally’s corner first time.

“As soon as he put it over I knew I was going to get on the end of it.

“The goal was similar to the one I got against Birmingham last season, it was a big relief.”

Maguire played on the left side of the attack, moving out there from the centre-forward role he played at Millwall.

It allowed Moult to lead the attack, Maguire heaping praise on his team-mate.

“Moulty was brilliant, you know what you get with him,” said Maguire. “His link-up play was very good, I played off him and he was bouncing it off my foot.

“That allowed us both to stretch the game – I thought he played really well.

“Gally too, what a goal that was from him – he’s got that in his locker.

“In training you see him whipping the ball into the top corner like that.”