Ryan Lowe was unsurprisingly full of praise for Milutin Osmajić, who scored one of the best hat-tricks the manager has seen in the 4-1 victory over Huddersfield Town.
North End were behind at Deepdale against the Terriers after Josh Koroma scored late in the first half, before Will Keane scored from the spot in the 53rd minute.
The gaffer then turned to his Montenegrin striker off the bench in the 76th minute and Osmajić went on to remarkably score three in the space of seven minutes.
Ryan said: “Fair play to the boys. We asked them to give us a bit more in the second half. The first half was a little bit flat. We weren’t on the front foot enough and we needed to raise it.
“I get the games are going thick and fast. We’ve now had 41 games and it’s catching up on one or two people, but they raised it in the second half. We changed one or two things, gave them a bit of information to be better in the second half, and we went out and did that which was pleasing.
“Credit goes to the boys, they stuck to the plan. They kept going, were on the front foot, were very aggressive in everything they did, and then we get a penalty to get ourselves back in the game.
“Then Milly comes on and scores probably one of the best hat-tricks I’ve seen for a while in seven or eight minutes. I’m pleased for him.
“He had a good rich vein of form and then dipped a little bit. He was out of the team and he’s had to wait patiently. He played really well at the weekend and then he’s come on today and scored a fantastic hat-trick which I’m absolutely over the moon about.”
The striker, who joined PNE in the summer, has had to bide his time waiting for minutes so far this calendar year, and prior to the visit of the Terriers had only scored once since November.
However, he made an incredible impact when his side needed him, netting all three goals in front of the Town End, as he has done with all of his strikes for the club.
On the forward, Ryan said: “He's a threat. He’s strong. He’s powerful. We’re working with him on some stuff. It’s tough for him because of the language barrier, but he’s getting better at it.
“He’s learning, he’s listening, and credit to him because he’s the one that’s coming on the pitch and performing.
“He’s desperate to score goals and do well for the football club. Credit where credit’s due, he’s scored a fantastic hat-trick.”
With sixth-placed Norwich City dropping points on the same night, North End’s victory closed the gap to the Canaries to five points, ahead of their visit to Deepdale on Saturday.
Ryan said: “It’s massive, bring it on. We’ve got five games to go. The pleasing thing for me is we’ve won 11 games at Deepdale, scored 56 goals which is three more than last season, and we’re on the points tally we had last season so the progression’s going where we want it to go.
“It’s out of our hands in terms of where we are and the teams above us, but we’ve got a game in hand. We’ve got to play Norwich, and Hull play Middlesbrough tomorrow and results have gone for us today, but we’ve got to worry about what we do and if we perform like we did in the second half right on the front foot, very aggressive, creating opportunities, I think we’re a match for anyone in the division which we’ve proven.
“We’ve done that with top teams and Norwich are a top team. We’ve got to make sure we’re right at the races on Saturday, and give it our best shot. With the fans behind us and everyone collectively, who knows?”
