Victory was a far cry from previous visit of Black Cats, says Preston fan John Smith

The starting XI showed five changes from the one which so disapointingly capitulated 3-0 in that game just short of 14 weeks ago.

The game’s outcome was also completely different on this occasion with our hard-earned 2-1 win over the Black Cats sending most of the Deepdale faithful home purring.

In goalscoring terms we had achieved the footballing equivalent of a "Dingos Breakfast" in our two games with the Black Cats last season but this was also not the case this time.

Will Keane who has also boomeranged his way back to the club gave us the lead midway through the first half but his goal was soon cancelled out and the sides went into the interval on level terms.

While the second half did not contain enough magic moments to fill up a verse in a Perry Como song the one it did produce saw us regain the lead when Alan Browne ,Keane and Mads Frojkaer combined well in what was a fantastic counter attacking move.

There were plenty of candidates for man of the match in what was a workmanlike performance as we held on to secure a welcome three points with some dogged defending managing to keep the threat of Sunderlands pacy wingers at bay.

Although it was a close run thing in my mind, Andrew Hughes just about gets my vote from the industrious midfield trio of Alan Browne, Ali McCann and Frojkaer.

New signing Frojkaer and likewise Keane seem to have already settled in quite well with the pair offering the team something a bit different from last season including much needed goals. At the end of the game the hard work of the team in battling hard for this victory was well appreciated by the fans and we even saw a fist pump from Ryan Lowe.

While I personally think that it may be a bit too early in the season for fist pumping I think it is far better seeing the team applauded off in this manner rather than the boos seen at the end of some of last season’s home games not forgetting the most important positive from the game being that it was a win.