Preston North End got their first league win of 2010 and the debut win of the Darren Ferguson era and after the game the new man in charge was understandably delighted with his new team's performance in Cambridgeshire.

"It was my third game and obviously I've had a difficult start, we've had Bristol City away and Chelsea at home, both hard games but it was a good performance tonight. I thought we knocked it about a bit extremely well. I thought we defended well, we threw bodies at balls as we knew they'd lump balls into the box."

Ferguson employed striker Neil Mellor on the right wing and the former Liverpool man was a constant menace throughout, none more so when he belted in the only goal of the game with his left foot on 34 minutes. The former Peterborough man was delighted with the performance of the frontman and the team in general.

"I thought we deserved to win, if we had got that goal after half-time we could have gone on and got more goals. We asked Neil to play a specific role tonight in terms of not playing as an out and out winger, just coming off the line and coming in between people. He did that really well Mells and he's got a good football brain and for someone who hasn't scored for a while he took it well but I was pleased wth all of them, to a man it was a very good performance."

The same back four was named as on Saturday against Chelsea and they performed manfully in repelling the Posh as they came close from the likes of George Boyd and Aaron McLean. Ferguson also praised the display of Andy Lonergan in the North End goal.

"I felt as a four they did well and got their heads in the way and thought the goalkeeper was really positive at times and was really positive in coming for crosses which just killed them. Overall the players deserved a lot of credit because it's not an easy place to come, They're fighting for their lives but I was really pleased wth some of the football we played. We knocked it about well on an awful pitch, my philosophy on how I want us to play will never change - it's a good win and it's a start.

"The players have been spot on since I came in, realy positive and bright in training. We've taken the positives from playing one of the best teams in Europe on Saturday but it's only a start, we've got two home games now and if we were to win them you're only looking up but we've got to continue to work hard."

Over 400 fans made the trip south on a cold night and after two and a half months of following North End away from home without seeing a win Darren Ferguson was delighted with the support his charges received.

"The fans were outstanding, absolutely outstanding, you could hear them singing, that's why I went over to them at the end. I said from day one we're in it together they've seen a little taste of how I want us to play, they want to see us play winning football but it's only a start if we can manage to get six points out of the next two league games then we'll be close to the Play-Offs which I'll be happy about."

One negative to take from the game though was the substitution of Captain Callum Davidson. The Preston skipper was replaced in the 73rd minute by Darren Carter after sustaining his second head injury of the game and the manager revealed that Davidson wasn't in a good way.

"He's in a bad way. He was knocked out so it is a mandatory ten days that he will have to miss so we will just have to see how he is. He hasn't gone to hospital but he is not in a good way."