The Canadian impressed on his return to Bramall Lane

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom was particularly impressed by Daniel Jebbison’s performance on Saturday.

The Lilywhites won 3-2 at Sheffield United in their final away game of the season. Jebbison didn’t score against his former club but led the line in the absence of Milutin Osmajic, and was effective from start to finish. On another day he could’ve had two assists, having teed up Lewis Dobbin for big opportunities.

“Yeah, very good,” said Heckingbottom. “Listen, I know what his strengths are. I know the parts of his game he needs to work on and he certainly suits some games rather than others. But, he's improved like the other loan players all season.

“The big thing for me, in his improvement, is if you look at his athletic capabilities today, he wasn't at that level when we took him. I said about it... injuries, wasn’t robust enough and he's got himself on the training pitch more and more often.

“All you're going to see is a better athlete out there. There’s so much more to come from him as well in terms of that aspect. And that can only help his football, because today he did a lot of things tactically right. He made it really difficult for their centre-backs. If he couldn't get hold of it, they never got a clearance. He played like a number nine and did it well.”

Jebbison endured a tough time at Watford last year but has thoroughly enjoyed his loan at PNE, regularly praising the manager, environment and support. Heckingbottom worked with him previously and feels he’s got the Canadian back to the levels he was at, as the youngster who earned a £1.5million move to AFC Bournemouth. Jebbison agrees with that and is grateful for the work Heckingbottom and his staff have put into him.

“Yeah, I'd say so,” said Jebbison last week. “He's helped us and me, individually, so much I think. We have a good relationship. He's just honest, brutally honest and that's what you need. I'd say there has to be a balance in my opinion. It should come from us and also from him, because he needs to keep the standards high but also we do.

“I'm going off topic now but when I see bigger teams and their managers get sacked after five games, I bet he really cares about his job and he wants the team to do well, but it's down to us at the end of the day. We can all back our manager. He does his job 110 per cent, as well as all the staff here. They're all invested in us and it’s down to us at the end of the day.”