North End’s Darnell Fisher believed it was the application and game plan that saw them through to victory tonight.
Fisher, who made his return to the starting XI tonight from a muscle injury, was part of a back four which defended superbly this evening limiting the hosts to just a handful of opportunities.
Manager Alex Neil opted for a change of formation by playing two strikers up top in a 4-4-2 system - with less emphasis on pressing the midfield and putting pressure on the forwards instead, and Fisher stated with confidence that the side is willing to adapt to different opponents.
Fisher continued: “We can press or we can sit off and that just shows how flexible we are, especially with the personnel we’ve got. It was good tactically and it obviously works when we get the three points and makes it all better.
“I thought we more than matched them, kept them quiet and frustrated the home crowd especially in the first half.
“In the second half we went 2-0 up only to be pegged back to 2-1 so unfortunately we didn’t keep a clean sheet but it was still a win.
“You know they’re going to have possession when they’re at home, and I think that’s how they play - but we sat in and soaked up the pressure towards the end.
“It didn’t really bother us - (them having the ball) they had a shot and Chris Maxwell’s made a great save and they’ve got the goal which we should have stopped but we got the three points and that’s what really matters.”
Fisher would have well been in the frame for man of the match tonight, and did nothing to suggest that he’d been out of action for three weeks, playing a part in North End’s first goal which saw Paul Gallagher find the net on the stroke of half-time.
“I think that’s the most running I’ve done!” Said Fisher. “But it was a hard game especially being away and we knew we’d have to put a shift in.
“The more you get forward, the more you can play a pass. I just played it into Jordan - he had a shot - it fell to Gally who popped up and scored.
“I’m feeling tired but it makes it worth it with the long journey back -i t makes it easier knowing we’ve got the three points.”
Watch Darnell’s interview on iFollow now.