Preston interim boss Frankie McAvoy pleased with performance of Jordan Storey

The centre-half opened the scoring with only his second goal in a PNE shirt.

He then headed on Tom Barkhuizen’s long throw for Ched Evans to make it 2-0.

That was a lead Storey helped keep in tact as North End recorded a fourth win in seven games under McAvoy.

Lilywhites interim head coach McAvoy said; “Jordan is a threat when we can get him forward into the box.

“It’s been a couple of seasons since he managed to score from a set piece when we played at QPR.

“Jordan has done well of late to be fair to him.

“There was one moment in the first half when he allowed the ball to bounce and Cauley Woodrow cut the ball back for Conor Chaplin who sort of scuffed his shot wide.

“Jordan is only a young boy and still learning his trad, he’s going to make the odd mistake.

“The important thing for him was that him, Hughesy and big Liam defended well against a Barnsley front three that are tough, they were big strong boys up there.

“Daniel Iversen came up with a great save towards the end, he worked hard again.

“Since Brentford beat us we’ve worked really hard to be defensively solid and tough to beat.

“That’s four clean sheets in a row which I’m told hadn’t happened since 2015.”

Storey, 23, has started the last 17 games, a run which commenced in the 2-1 derby win at Blackburn in February.

It’s his best run in the side since the second-half of the 2018/19 season – his first campaign at the club – when he played 22 on the bounce.

Saturday’s victory moved PNE up to 13th place.

The lowest they can finish is 14th, the highest as things stand is 12th. However, Luton in 12th place would have to lose their last two games and PNE win at Nottingham Forest on the final day for that to happen.

With 14 points gained from his seven games as interim, McAvoy has made a strong claim to get the job full-time.

North End will wait until the end of the season to make a decision though.

Four of McAvoy’s games at the helm have come against top-six sides, with seven points collected from Barnsley, Swansea and Norwich. The 5-0 defeat to Brentford was the fly in the ointment in the run.

McAvoy said: “We’ve taken it game by game, never looked further ahead.

“We’ve got the team prepared as best we can and settled on a set-up which we think suits us the best.

“I’m so proud of the lads, they have done fantastically well.”

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