Preston North End boss Alex Neil pleased with victory in opening pre-season friendly

Neil used 22 players in the 2-0 victory at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium, changing the team at half-time.

Tom Clarke and Louis Moult found the net in the first half, North End missing some good chances towards the end of the game to making the winning margin greater.

Neil said: "I thought it was a good run out.

"We wanted to have a good run, get the lads moving, win the game and make sure everyone came through unscathed.

"Obviously we were missing Sean Maguire and Callum Robinson who were late back because of international duty.

"We looked lively but would have liked a few more goals, the last time we came here we hit seven but you have to take opportunities when they come along.

"As pre-season goes on, we will get sharper in and around the box.

"There were some good individual performances which was encouraging."

Josh Harrop and Billy Bodin both made returns to action after long spells on the sidelines recovering from ACL injuries.

Harrop was in the first-half team and Bodin came on at half-time, looking lively on the right-wing.

Neil said: "It is always nice to see to see lads back and hopefully they make an impact this season.

"That was the first sample of proper football for them, we'd had a couple of in-house 11 v 11 games but those games against your team-mates are very different to playing another team.

"They will only get stronger with the more minutes they play."