He may have been bruised and battered, but Joe Garner was still more than happy after the final whistle knowing that North End had secured another three points.
One of the incidents off the ball saw Stephane Zubar red carded by the referee after raising his hand towards Garner’s face, yet the number 14 was happy to take the burden of being targeted by opposition defenders.
I quite enjoy it,” said Garner speaking to PNE Player post-match.
“There was quite a few off the ball incidents and a number of tough challenges; but we get on with it, we get the three points and we move on to Tuesday [against Gillingham].
"It’s a physical league, and it was a physical game – you could see what their tactics were, but that’s just one of those things and we’ve just got to deal with that.
"We’ve got five wins now so we’ve got great confidence and we know what we need to do keep moving up the table."
To hear more of what Joe Garner had to say on Preston’s physical affair against Port Vale this afternoon, watch the full link here.