The sponsors may have chosen Paul McKenna as man of the match but for the texters it was frontman Stephen Elliott who was the key man, voting him as the SMS man of the match.

His instinctive finish for the third goal was probably one of the reasons for their decision and he told pne.com in an exclusive interview that he was happy to be back on the scoresheet.

"I was delighted to get the goal, it's been a few games since I scored now so I'm happy to be back amongst the goals, it just came over and I was happy to get my foot to it to put it in."

It was an eventful game for the Irishman with him being mistakenly shown a yellow card in the second half by referee Steve Tanner, a decision which the former Sunderland thinks was overturned.

"I think he took it off in the end, I was surprised when he showed the card to me but he realised his mistake and took it off."

Elliott's goal was all-important because Ipswich responded with a strike of their own via Tommy Miller's free-kick which resulted in a nervy final moments for the supporters.

For the players though, according to Elliott, their wasn't any nervous tension and it was just a question of getting the job done.

"It was just a case of keeping it tight after they scored and everybody worked really hard and we're delighted with the result."

North End have a chance to build on the three points earned against the Tractor Boys at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday and for the former Wolves man the win was all-important prior to that trip.

"It was a great win in the end. Obviously it was a big game coming into today, especially after last week's performance, and we had to put a good performance on because they've been doing well away from home, so to get the three points is really good for us.

"In the end it was a tough game because we scored and then they equalised straight away and there were a few edgy moments in the last sixteen minutes but we managed to get through it.

"It's a great win, especially with the way results went but we've got another big game on Tuesday so we've got to get our bodies right for that."