PNE back among the wins on home soil against Watford

Preston North End returned to winning ways in the Championship, as they saw off Watford 3-0 at Deepdale.

It was the visitors who had the first, glaring opportunity of Wednesday night’s clash - but PNE goalkeeper Freddie Woodman produced a crucial save to keep out Kwadwo Baah. The two sides headed in level after an evenly contested 45 minutes. Milutin Osmajic and Ben Whiteman both called Hornets shot-stopper, Jonathan Bond, into action.

At half time the game had the feel of one that could go either way. The importance of breaking the deadlock won’t have been lost on either side and it took just eight minutes of the second half, for North End to do so. Kaine Kesler-Hayden’s excellent work down the right led to him playing the ball across for Osmajic, who made no mistake with his first time finish.

The Montenegrin could be set for a lengthy spell out, if the FA come down hard on him for the bite on Blackburn Rovers defender Owen Beck. But, if this was his last involvement for the time being, it wasn’t a bad one. On 65 minutes, the number 28 was on hand to apply another first time finish - after Jordan Storey smashed the ball across the box.

North End had to ride their luck over the course of the 90 minutes. Paul Heckingbottom’s side cleared off the line before Osmajic’s second and Vakoun Bayo somehow slotted wide - passing up the chance to reduce the deficit to one. And, with 15 minutes left to play, that miss was punished as Ali McCann thundered home a ferocious effort, via the post, to seal the three points.

Attendance: 13,602 PNE XI:Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes, Kesler-Hayden (Holmes 84’), Thordarson (Ledson 73’), Whiteman, McCann, Brady (Potts 73’), Frokjaer (Okkels 84’), Osmajic (Riis 87’) PNE unused subs: Cornell, Whatmough, Bowler, Stewart.