Ryan Lowe breaks down how Preston North End beat Birmingham City as Milutin Osmajic hailed

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe was pleased to see tactical tweaks pay off as the Lilywhites came from behind to beat Birmingham City 2-1 on Tuesday night.

The Lilywhites made it six straight league wins and maintained their spot at the top of the Championship table. North End had to do it the hard way, with Jay Stansfield firing the Blues ahead straight away in the second half. PNE levelled matters five minutes later, courtesy of a Krystian Bielik own goal, before Milutin Osmajic drilled home his first Preston goal to win the match.

Preston were off the pace in the first half, but still found a way to battle back and win their fourth game by a 2-1 scoreline this season. The Liverpudlian wanted North End to play higher up the pitch in order to carry a greater threat. Lowe admitted his side were not at their best over the course of the 90 minutes, but hailed the spirit shown once again.

“Three more points, that was the main objective tonight and we got them,” said Lowe. “The first half performance was not what we would’ve liked and to concede early doors second half was a bit of a bummer, but the lads went and found a way. It was probably that bit of a kick up the backside we needed, but I always felt we were going to be well in the game and we’d find opportunities to score. I said to our lads that if we wanted to win the game, we had to raise it 30 per cent. After we conceded, that’s what we did and the momentum was with us. We tweaked it a little bit and put Liam Millar up with Milly.

“Browney does what he does best, driving forward with the ball and sliding Milly in; touch, bang, finish and that’s what we’ve got him for. We just needed to be a little bit higher as a unit. The distances in the first half were too tight - we were on each other’s toes. We were on top of each other and Milly was isolated on his own. We got them in at half time and pushed them all on, to get a bit closer to Milly. And then we dropped it back down. Sometimes it is a game of chess; I am actually no good at chess believe it or not. But, it is a game of tactical nous of what to do and when to do it.

“The lads take their instructions on board. It’s in-game changes you have to make in order to find a way and that’s what we did. When we scored the equaliser, part of me was thinking not to change it but I thought ‘no, let’s go’ because I thought we could go and win it. We want to keep winning and I think that helped in doing so. It was a scruffy goal for us to concede. The ball was in the air and Liam (Lindsay) let it bounced. It’s a block tackle as he’s getting back and it falls in favour of their player. The kid is a good finisher, he saw the near post and put it in. But, there was no panic - 40 seconds in is hard to take, but we hadn’t even got started. Fair play to the boys, they put it right.”

It was a moment to remember for Osmajic, who powered home the winner in devastating fashion in front of the Alan Kelly Town End. The club record signing took his shirt off in celebration and Lowe believes the Montenegrin will only go from strength-to-strength.

“He actually said something to me at the end of the game, I think he was telling me ‘that’s what he is here for’ in no uncertain terms,” said Lowe. “The language barrier is tough for him and the lads, but he’s taking everything in he can and visually he is good. We said to him at half-time to stay in between the centre-halves and we would find him. The more games he plays and more English he picks up, the better he is going to be. He smashed it. Marshy actually said to me before the game on Saturday that Milly was rocking the net - and he has got a lot of power. It was a fantastic finish.”