Alex Neil's pride as Preston North End see off Leeds to reach third round of Carabao Cup

ALSO READ: Leeds United 0-2 Preston North End - Ten-man Lilywhites produce fine display to reach third round of League Cup

Daniel Johnson’s early penalty put PNE in front only for Ryan Ledson to be sent off for a wild challenge on Lewis Baker on the half hour mark.

Brandon Barker’s stunning strike on the stroke of half-time put North End in poll position though, a resolute second-half display seeing them to victory.

“I’m really proud of my players tonight,” said Neil.

“If you look at how young we were, Josh Earl is 19, Jordan Storey is 20, Ben Davies the skipper is 23, Darnell Fisher 24, Josh Harrop 22, Brandon Barker 21, and then we bring on Lukas Nmecha who is 19.

“It was a team full of young kids and I thought they worked their socks off.

“We started really well and took the lead and then we were up against it when we got a man sent off.

“Ryan was a bit naive in his tackle and from that point we had to find a way to dig in.

“The second goal was a great counter attack and a bit of individual quality which Brandon is capable of and that set the platform for us to go and win the game.

“ I’ve seen Leeds live twice and they’ve been excellent on both occasions.

“They’ve been blowing teams away.

“So to come here and win 2-0 when we’ve played nearly 70 minutes with 10 men speaks volumes of how well the lads have done.”