The former PNE boss had his say post-match at Deepdale

Millwall manager Alex Neil was delighted with his side’s performance to beat old club Preston North End, 0-2, on Saturday.

Ryan Leonard and Luke Cundle scored in either half as North End’s winless run extended to four games, and the Lilywhites slipped to 12th. Neil, formerly at Deepdale between 2017 and 2021, admitted he felt ‘sorry’ for his old club amid the state of their home pitch. But, Paul Heckingbottom’s side were limited to few chances by an organised Millwall.

"The difficulty we've got here is the pitch and it's the same for both teams," said Neil. "So, I feel sorry for Preston in the fact that it's really difficult to get the ball moving on that. It basically becomes a second ball game, making sure you defend well and you get the better of your man in the duels. It doesn't make for good viewing, if I'm being honest.

"However, it's the same for both teams, so we certainly didn't want to use that as an excuse. We spoke about making sure that, at this level, if you want to be successful, you need to win games in a variety of different ways. I thought we certainly did that.

"It becomes a defenders’ game, doesn't it? In terms of long balls, heading it, landing on it, second balls. But what I did think was, we had moments of quality in the first half. I thought we created probably three or four opportunities. We had three or four of the best chances.

"I think the only one I can remember, first half, was (Daniel) Jebbison's header at the front post (for PNE). And then I think second half, the game started to open up a little bit. I thought Femi (Azeez) started to become a threat to us down the right-hand side.

"But the game's always in the balance: one set play, one missed tackle, one shot. I think the best opportunity felt was (Milutin) Osmajic when he rolled on to his right foot. We managed to see it out and get a block in, Patto (Anthony Patterson) saved it. And then, thankfully, we managed to secure the points with the second goal.”

The Millwall boss said that he was not surprised by anything that North End did during the game and provided an in-depth analysis of the Lilywhites’ setup.

"What we spoke about was just keep them all in front of you, because you know they want to get down the sides and they want to get in behind,” said Neil. “But if you can keep them in front of you, they then need to make passes. And then what happens is they start to open their shape up, then when we nick it we'll get the spaces to break in.

“That's ultimately how the game ended up in the second half. So, from that perspective, it ended up exactly as I expected it to. What I will say, it's not an easy place to come. We watched a lot of games here against a lot of different opponents before we came to this game.

"I knew it was going to be tight. I knew it was going to be a battle. I knew we were going to have to come out the right side of that and show a little bit of quality from time to time. I think sustaining pressure is so important. Keeping the ball in there, throw-ins, corners, free-kicks.

"When it comes out, getting it, recycling it, putting it back in, making them defend the box. I thought it sort of paid dividends. I thought we had the majority of physical players on the pitch in terms of dealing with (the pitch and game physicality)."