Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe pleased with battling win over League One Accrington Stanley

Emil Riis scored the only goal of the game after 38 minutes, that goal coming shortly after Daniel Johnson missed from the spot.

It was the second win of the summer for Lowe’s side, who beat Bamber Bridge in their opening game before falling to defeat against Tranmere Rovers and Getafe.

Stanley, who will be hoping to push for the top six in League One next season, provided a good test for PNE though Lowe’s focus was on coming through the game unharmed.

He said: “I thought there were some good performances in there. We played some good football at times. More importantly, it was a good battle.

"We're going to come up against sides like that in the Championship that are up for the fight and we've got to find a way to win.

"We created some superb chances, we could have scored a couple more. As I've said all along, the pre-season results are irrelevant - it's about the players coming off the pitch unscathed, which they have done today and we hopefully will for the next two games.

"There were good performances for individuals and some good patterns of play.

"We can build on that and the stuff that wasn't so good we can go back and look at it again and work on it.”

North End won by a narrow margin but in reality it could have been more, Johnson’s penalty was saved but Riis saw another chance well saved as did Ched Evans, with Lukas Jensen thwarting both in the Reds’ goal.

With the season starting in two weeks’ time, Lowe has time to work on things he didn’t like from the game at the Wham Stadium – and his mind is already on the Championship opener.

“I was pleased with the performance, the attitude and application was spot on,” he said.

"We had a tough week in Spain and to come here to a tough opponent in Accrington Stanley, who will do things in a different way, they will play and get the ball forward quickly, it causes problems.

"I thought we dealt with that relatively well. You know when you're coming to Accrington Stanley it's what you're going to get - they're well drilled.

"It's finding that way to win, we could have made it a little easier for ourselves.

"Those are the things you look at, could we have put the ball in the back of the net next time?

"The not so good stuff we will address and it's all building up for July 30.”