Sean Maguire's rise no surprise to his former boss John Coleman

John Coleman managed Maguire at Sligo Rovers and again when he had a loan spell at Stanley in 2014.

Maguire moved to North End from Cork City last month and led their attack in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

It was his scoring record for Cork which earned him the switch to Deepdale.

“I’m not surprised at all by how well Sean has done,” said Coleman.

“I rated him very highly when I had him at Sligo, then I brought him over with me when I came back here.

“He went to Cork and scored a lot of goals and I’m pleased to see him doing well.

“His confidence is sky-high at the moment and I hope he goes on to have a smashing career with Preston.”

This will be the second time Stanley and North End have met in the last three weeks, Alex Neil’s side winning 3-2 at the Crown Ground in a pre-season game.

In terms of competitive action, you have to go back to January 1961 for the last time the clubs faced one another.

They played twice in three days in the FA Cup, drawing 1-1 at Deepdale.

In the replay at Peel Park, PNE won 4-0 with goals from Tommy Thompson, Peter Thompson, Derek Mayers and Davie Sneddon.

As far as the recent friendly game is concerned, Coleman thinks Accrington will be far tougher opponents this time.

Coleman said: “We know a lot about Preston and the way they play.

“They really impressed me in the pre-season game here, they had a good work ethic and moved the ball really well.

“That night we didn’t play as I know we can and we had a bit of a mixed side out.

“So I think they they’ll see a much better Accrington this time around.”

Stanley kicked-off their League Two campaign with a 3-1 victory over Colchester.

Kayden Jackson, Billy Kee and Omar Beckles were on target.

Jackson played in the friendly against North End as a trialist and signed three days later.

Ex-PNE scholar Tyler Forbes made his Stanley debut as a 74th minute sub on Saturday, having signed on loan from Brighton the day before.