After a fine first half display, Chris Sedgwick said that PNE worked hard to ensure there was no second half fightback.

The North End midfielder was instrumental in setting up the crucial first goal for the Lilywhites, slipping past his full-back and squaring the ball to Neil Mellor who slotted home with ease. Sedgwick told pne.com that he had been told to get at full-back Charlie Lee and that advice paid dividends.

"The manager told me to get at the full-back when I got it early on and I managed to do that and it has managed to pay off," Sedgwick said after the 2-0 victory.

"I just managed to slip past him and get to the goal-line and Mells has made a good run and I have managed to slide it across to him and he has finished it off. It was a nice start, settled a few nerves and we went on to play well in the first half.

"It was a good result for us and coming on the back of the four points we got away from home and obviously we have capitalised on that with a win today. First half I thought we played really well, second half they came at us but we weathered it."

After being an attacking force in the first half, Sedgwick was forced into a more defensive role in the second period, as Darren Ferguson's men attempted to get themselves back into the game. It was a tough workout at times, but one which the PNE No.7 knew was just as an important part of the victory.

"We knew that they were going to be a threat in the second half, they had nothing to lose and they threw everything forward and we didn't really pass the ball too well in the second half when we recovered it but we did all the horrible jobs well and weathered the storm and in the end we could have had a couple more.

"They have got some good players and they have got some good players who when they get on the ball they can hurt you so it was important that we kept a good shape."

The one lowlight on the match was the news that fellow midfielder Barry Nicholson has broken his leg and Sedgwick wished his team-mate a speedy recovery.

He said: "If it's a broken leg then it is terrible news for Barry, it didn't look like there was anything in the tackle but we wish him a speedy recovery.

"It's not nice to see something like that but at the time we didn't know what was happening, you just have to put it to the back of your mind and get on with it, see how he is after."

Alan Irvine's side now switch their focus to the Carling Cup and Sedgwick revealed that the team will be using the example of Burnley to hopefully progress as far as they can in the competition.

"We have just been saying, look what Burnley did last year, they kept winning games and look where they ended up. It's a big game again on Tuesday night and we are looking forward to it," the former Rotherham man said.