Ryan Lowe praised the resilience and character of his Preston North End side showed in their 1-0 victory over West Brom.
PNE got off to a perfect start, with striker Emil Riis breaking the deadlock inside seven minutes, after both Ali McCann and Sean Maguire had also come close in what was a fast start from the home side.
While the rest of the first half saw plenty of chances created, the second was more about resilience at the back to hold on to what was a ninth Championship clean sheet of the season.
Speaking to iFollow PNE, Ryan said: “It’s been a long time coming.
“I thought the first-half performance was fantastic. I thought we could have had three goals.
“We were really on the front foot. We knew if we got at West Brom early doors we could get a chance at scoring an early goal which we proved.
“Second half was obviously a little bit different. We were under pressure a little bit and we had to change shape because they’ve got some fantastic players, but I thought the resilience and the character of the boys to withstand their pressure and to keep creating many chances was fantastic.”
Freddie Woodman was called into action on a few occasions, having to come up with big saves to deny the likes of Karlan Grant and Jed Wallace.
In front of him, PNE had to work hard to keep out a West Brom side who have scored 17 goals so far this season.
“It starts from the front with the front players, and the lads up and down the wings,” added Ryan.
“Browney [Alan Browne] was rock solid tonight and we had to get fresh legs on because [Grady] Diangana is a good footballer and can cause trouble.
“The wing backs, Robbie [Brady] in that eight position, and every single one of them was fantastic. It’s hard work the way we want to play up and down, with recovery runs, so fair play to them, they dug deep and got the points.”
The manager made two changes from the weekend’s draw against Sunderland, with Ali McCann and Sean Maguire the two men to come in to the side.
It was a first start of the season for the Irish forward, who impressed his gaffer.
Ryan said: “Seani was fantastic. He missed out on Saturday [against Sunderland] and he was sitting in the stands.
“I had a chat with him on Monday when we came in and I said just keep going because I’ve been contemplating getting him in.
“Ched [Evans] has missed out today; they’re all going to have to miss out at some point. We’ve got a good squad of players and they’ll all get opportunities to play like they have already.
“What we’ve got to do is make sure that they’re ready. I thought Seani was fantastic tonight, he’s not played in a while but he was fit, strong, powerful, and unlucky not to score as well.”
Hear more from the boss in his full post-match interview above.