After biding their time in search of that elusive winner, today’s goalscorer Jordan Hugill felt North End’s endurance guided them to victory today.
For all their dominance and pressure, PNE had to wait until the 88th minute to seal the three points at Deepdale thanks to Hugill’s effort late on, and although the hosts had a man advantage, the No. 9 felt the fact the visitors went down to ten men made life more difficult for them.
To iFollow post-match, Hugill said: “When you’re playing against ten men at home, it makes it really hard because they play behind the ball and hit you on the counter and wait for you to make a mistake really.
“Second half, we kept the ball better and moved it quicker and we got the chances and to get that goal at the end was a big relief for us.
“When they went down to ten men it just changed the game completely but the relief to finally get the goal and the win is the main thing.”
It took an excellent trademark through ball from Paul Gallagher who found Hugill to split the QPR defence open; leaving only the goalkeeper to beat, Hugill managed to slide the ball past the incoming Alex Smithies and into the net.
Although it was Hugill’s name that is etched on the scoresheet this afternoon, the forward felt his provider in Gallagher is more than worthy of the praise.
“You expect that quality from Gally because he’s such a good player and such a big player for us,” continued Hugill. “You know when he’s on the ball, if you make those runs, he’ll find you. It ‘s one of those things were I might not get it every time but he creates things.
“The run up between now and Christmas makes these three points even more important. Hopefully, this is the start of a run, we can keep getting points and moving up the table.
“Because they were tough to break down, we had to take a few more risks and play from side to side. The fans might not have been happy with how we played at times, but at the end of the day, they’ll be happy with the 1-0 victory and going home with the three points so it’s one of those things where sometimes you can’t have it pretty; winning ugly, we’ll take that.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow PNE now by clicking on the video above.