Preston North End in Numbers: Wait for a goal is over for Ben Whiteman

The midfielder arrived from Doncaster Rovers in January with a reputation for chipping in with goals.

He had scored eight for Donny in the first half of the season but had found the Championship a bit of a tougher nut to crack.

Whiteman broke his PNE duck by opening the scoring in the 3-0 win over Derby at Deepdale, arriving in the box to meet Alan Browne’s cross and head home.

In doing so,he became the 15th North End player to score in the league this season.

Whiteman joins five other players who have scored once in Championship action for PNE this season.

The others are Patrick Bauer, Greg Cunningham, Liam Lindsay, Jayden Stockley and Darnell Fisher.

There was another first in the goalscoring stakes in victory over Derby.

Ryan Ledson netted PNE’s third goal and that was his first at Deepdale.

Ledson had scored his only previous Preston goal in the 2-1 defeat at Rotherham’s New York Stadium in November.

North End interim head coach Frankie McAvoy spoke about Ledson being on set-piece duty this week.

McAvoy said: “I had someone asking why we put Ryan on set-pieces.

“I said it was because he has good delivery and that I trust him.

“When Ryan scored that free-kick against Derby, some people were saying it was a fluke – you can’t win!

“It was great to see him score, that goal was the icing on the cake.”