Ryan Lowe praises Preston North End's defensive efforts in the victory over Birmingham City

Ryan Ledson and Alan Browne scored within six minutes of each other during the first half to help the Lilywhites on their way to the three points at St Andrew’s.

Despite conceding a late Lukas Jutkiewicz goal, Lowe was still pleased with the overall performance from his team.

He said: “The clean sheets are great for the players but for us it’s about the points.

“They put their bodies on the line when a few balls came in, and one or two just misjudged it for the goal.

“You can see the leadership of (Liam) Lindsay, (Jordan) Storey and Hughesy (Andrew Hughes), saying ‘get your head on it’ or ‘stop the crosses.’

“They’ve been great at keeping the ball out the back of the net.

“We went into a back five at times.

"We knew we’d have to do that, and we were excellent when we did.

“Every player gave it their all, and Alan Browne epitomised that with his energy and his defending, and it was the same with Robbie (Brady) on the other side.

“When you play wing-back there are chores you’ve got to do, because it’s not just about going forward and creating.

“Birmingham are well coached and are just going through a little bit of a tough time at the moment, but they’ve got some good players.

“They were probably fancied to go down, and John (Eustace) has done a great job with them to get to this point.

“Obviously people then get carried away and think ‘we can get into the play-offs.’

“People need to understand what the club is about and where they are.

“These don’t have massive finances anymore.

“Ultimately it’s a tough division and a tough job.

“We felt that they were a wounded animal and we didn’t want them to hurt us, because they could’ve.”

Lowe says North End needed to remain resolute after conceding late on, and believes his side showed great character to bounce back from last week’s 4-0 defeat to Norwich.

“It can be pleasing to go ahead early on, but sometimes you can think you’ve scored too soon,” he added.

“We could’ve added another one after that and made it three, and then I would’ve been more happy.

“At 2-0, it’s still a tough scoreline because they’ve gone in at half time and ruffled a few feathers.

“We were going for it, we told the lads to keep doing what they were doing, but two halves are never the same.

“Birmingham managed to score a goal but I felt we were quite comfortable. We just switched off from a corner and they came over the top of us.

“Credit to them, they came out and had a go.

“When you concede there’s always disappointment but I felt we were quite solid and resolute in that.

“We’ve got a fantastic group of lads and they hurt when they lose.

“The character and the resilience they show is fantastic so they deserved the three points.”