Preston North End came out on top against Barnsley thanks to goals from Alan Browne and Daniel Johnson.
PNE went ahead within 12 minutes of the second half, with captain Browne getting his first goal of the season, but the visitors drew level shortly after through Cauley Woodrow.
Johnson then gave his side the lead again, though, on the end of a well-worked set piece, and that was enough to give his side all three points on Ryan Lowe’s first game in charge.
Lowe’s first starting XI saw five changes made, which included Sepp van den Berg and Andrew Hughes, who returned from injury, while Daniel Johnson, Patrick Bauer and Sean Maguire all came in to start.
The hosts created a great opportunity early on through Johnson, as he had the ball cut back to him inside the area by Josh Earl, but he couldn’t keep his left-footed, curling effort down.
Barnsley had a good opportunity themselves to break the deadlock on 17 minutes and came very close to doing so, as Carlton Morris headed against the crossbar, before the rebound was collected by Daniel Iversen.
Andrew Hughes then had a good headed chance at the other end, rising highest in the area to meet Ben Whiteman’s cross, but it landed the wrong side of the post.
North End broke down the right channel a couple of times in the next ten minutes, firstly through Maguire, who chose to shoot and saw that attempt blocked, before Emil Riis later looked to find his strike partner in the box, but the ball was just out of reach of the Irishman.
It was the same situation for Clarke Odour just before the break, as he couldn’t quite get on the end of Morris’ cross, and he came close again minutes into the second half, with Daniel Iversen diving low to his left to deny the forward.
PNE would be the ones to go in front, though, and what a good goal it was, with Johnson finding skipper Browne in space running towards goal and he kept his cool to beat Brad Collins at his near post.
However, the teams were soon back level as Woodrow nodded home from close range after Callum Brittain had fired an effort into the ground.
North End took the lead once more, though, on 78 minutes, as substitute Ryan Ledson – on his 100th appearance for the club – smartly pulled a free-kick back to Johnson on the penalty spot and he slotted home to make it 2-1.
Ledson almost had a goal himself, sending a left-footed effort goalbound, only for Collins to keep him out, but it wasn't to matter as the home side held out for all three points.
PNE line-up: Iversen; van den Berg, Bauer, Hughes; McCann (Ledson, 69), Browne, Whiteman, Johnson (Potts, 90), Earl; Riis, Maguire (Sinclair, 70). Subs not used: Hudson, Cunningham, Lindsay, Rafferty.
Barnsley line-up: Collins; Helik, Andersen, Kitching; Brittain, Palmer, Gomes, Styles (Adevoyejo, 84); Odour (Leya Iseka, 76), Woodrow (Benson, 84), Morris. Subs not used: Jinadu, Williams, Benson, Moon, Vita.
Referee: Mr K Stroud
Attendance: 11,106 (798 away fans)