Preston North End manager Alan Irvine was full of praise for his match-winner against Doncaster Rovers, adding that he hopes Jon Parkin would now kick on and add to his tally.

”He has come close to scoring on many occasions, as everyone knows,” he said.

”Sometimes keepers have made very good saves against him, sometimes he has been unfortunate with the woodwork, and at other times he has been unable to finish it.

”I am delighted for him, and hopefully that’s the start now. It was a terrific header.

"It was a very good goal when it did come.”

He added: “It looked like the goal wasn’t going to come.

"We had a lot of possession, without enough penetration.

”At times we moved the ball well, and at other times we picked the wrong path.

”It was all a bit frustrating, because when teams are playing with that sort of formation against you, you have to go down the side rather than go through them.

”We got a win in the end. Sometimes you have to grind wins out, and we managed to do that on this particular occasion.

”I know from having a few chats with Tony Pulis how he felt that was a massive factor.

"Being able to be in the top half of the division you have to be able to grind out results.

”Switching Ross Wallace to the other wing is something that it a useful ploy.

”Things like that don’t always work and I didn’t want to use it too early on or too often.

"However, this was the type of game where you want width.”