Ryan Lowe believes Preston have already turned a corner after his first game in charge ended with a 2-1 win against Sky Bet Championship strugglers Barnsley.
Lowe was snapped up from high-flying League One side Plymouth to replace the sacked Frankie McAvoy and was rewarded with a late Daniel Johnson winner at Deepdale.
Alan Browne had put Preston ahead but Cauley Woodrow equalised for the visitors with a header midway through the second half.
Johnson’s neat finish sealed it for the hosts and Lowe praised his side’s persistence and positive attitude.
“I thought the lads were fantastic from front to back and back to front,” he said. “They played some lovely football against a good footballing team like Barnsley and I’m very pleased to get the win.
“I thought we were a little bit cagey for the first 10 or 15 minutes. A new manager comes into the building and stamps his authority about how we want to play, but I thought the minute we got into the rhythm and the minute we started going forward we looked like a real threat.
“The first goal was fantastic, we opened them up and DJ (Johnson) is running with it. The striker has made a fantastic run and then the skipper is there to tuck it away.
“The second one was a little set play. I’ll give Gally (coach Paul Gallagher) his dues, he has set it up and apparently they’ve been working on that for three years and it hasn’t paid off. So it has paid off today.”
Preston made a fast start and could have scored in the first few minutes when Johnson was free in front of goal but blazed over from 10 yards.
Barnsley were also good value and hit the crossbar through Woodrow, while Carlton Morris’ poor pass cost Clarke Oduor an almost certain goal.
Browne and Woodrow exchanged goals but Preston went on the front foot late on, with Johnson keeping his cool to slot under the keeper.
The result lifts North End to 14th, while Barnsley – still adjusting to life under Poya Asbaghi – are deep in trouble and are now eight points from safety.
Asbaghi said: “Someone told me on minute 25 that we would lose this game 2-1.
“But even though we had chances at the start, we hit the crossbar, Preston came back into the game more and more and took over in the first half. We lost a little bit of our defensive structure and struggled a little bit.
“At the end of the first half we got back into the game and created more chances again. Coming into half-time we talked about how we needed to be a bit more compact in our defending.
“When we went out in the second half we had a good start. We conceded a goal that collectively we could have protected Brad Collins better.
“But our reaction after that was brilliant. So if someone had told me after we scored the equaliser that this game would have been a loss against Preston I would not have believed them.
“It felt that we were going to be the ones that won. Then they got their free-kick which they used well and made it 2-1. So it was a massive blow for us.”
