Alan Irvine praised Sean St Ledger after the win over Barnsley, while Simon Davey felt his side deserved more.
Preston boss happy with 2-1 victory
Alan Irvine praised Sean St Ledger after Preston's 2-1 win over Barnsley, while Simon Davey felt his side deserved more.
Richard Chaplow opened the scoring for Preston in the 21st minute but Barnsley quickly equalised through Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
However, St Ledger clinched the points for Preston with a ferocious strike late on which took a deflection off Robert Kozluk.
Irvine said: "We know he is capable of bursting out with the ball. He does that many times, but we didn't expect him to go and do that today.
"He made a great decision to come out. He obviously decided his best option was to have a shot and we got a break, there's no question about it.
"It was a good result and I'm obviously delighted about it, but we have played better and lost.
"Barnsley came to try and make things difficult for us, to be very solid and to make sure we could not open them up."
Davey disappointment
Barnsley created a number of chances and were denied a second when Campbell-Ryce had an effort turned onto the post by goalkeeper Andy Lonergan.
Davey said: "Jamal played for 90 minutes in Jamaica on Wednesday. He is one of the fittest lads I have ever worked with.
"He has gone through a time zone and a nine-hour flight and did not arrive until 11.30 yesterday, missing training.
"However he's like a clockwork toy - he doesn't stop running. He is improving week on week. We are now seeing the best of him."
The Barnsley manager said of the build-up to Preston's opening goal that Dennis Souza thought he had been fouled, although referee Andy Hall waved play on.
He explained: "I have to be careful what I say. The referee looked at me and said 'I might have made a mistake', in so many words. It sticks in your throat.
"I think we deserved a lot more than what we got. We have been done by a deflected goal and possibly a dubious goal in the first half, which I think was a free-kick.
"The players wore the shirt with pride. I am disappointed for them.
"But we are on the way up. You can see the way we played that we are improving week on week.
"There's a long way to go in this season but if we continue to play like that we will win more than we lose.
"I didn't see the second Preston goal coming. You don't expect a centre-back to come and get a deflected goal near the end."
