Heckingbottom praises Preston spirit in Stoke win

Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom praised his side's character after they came back to beat Stoke and end their seven-game winless run in the Championship. Heckingbottom feared it would be more pain for Preston when Stoke took an early lead and was delighted with the way his side responded with Alfie Devine scoring twice and Milutin Osmajic once. He told BBC Radio Lancashire: "Listen, I've been saying it's about the wins.

No-one is interested in what you say when you're not winning, you know it's about the win. "We have played well in previous games and not got over the line and today we started really well again, and then their first pass, their first cross, they score. "We had that against Norwich, where we started the better team, made a mistake and they go one up.

Kenny McLean puts one in the top corner from a free-kick. "We were the dominant team, but we couldn't get the goal, couldn't get the points. Today we did, so, yeah, that will make everyone feel better, definitely.

"The performance was excellent from start to finish and we turned the game round from that difficult start, and it wasn't just me thinking 'here we go again', so, yeah, it's great. " Latest Preston North End news, analysis and fan views