Alfie Devine secured Preston’s first win in five Championship matches as they edged past struggling Portsmouth 1-0 at Deepdale.
The 21-year-old bagged a 40th-minute winner – his sixth goal of the season – with a well-directed header from Andrija Vukcevic’s cross.
It was a big win for Paul Heckingbottom that puts his team back on track for a play-off push, however, they had to dig deep against John Mousinho’s visitors, who were unfortunate not to take something from the game.
Portsmouth started with intent and in the third minute they had three shots in the box from Adrian Segecic, Jacob Brown and Zak Swanson all blocked by a steely Preston rearguard.
A battered looking pitch set the tone for a scrappy opening period with Ebou Adams’ tame header from Segecic’s cross in the 20th minute being the first effort on target by either side.
North End fans had their hearts in mouths on the half-hour as Segecic looked to be in on goal when Lewis Gibson intervened with a last-ditch sliding challenge that referee Adam Herczeg approved of, despite wild gesticulations from the Pompey players, who felt the 21-year-old winger had been upended.
It was a sluggish start from the hosts, although they did rack up two quickfire chances in the 37th and 38th minutes as Devine’s deflected shot looped just wide of the far corner before Lewis Dobbin’s whipped, angled effort was easily gathered by Nicolas Schmid.
Those moments provided the perfect impetus as just moments later, Devine managed to guide a looping header over Schmid and into the corner to provide the home fans with some cheer.
Pompey almost had an instant response with David Cornell forced to spring low down to tip Andre Dozzell’s audacious low strike from distance around the post.
Preston started the second half well and Dobbin nearly extended their lead after 54 minutes, taking Ben Whiteman’s pass in his stride before galloping past several Portsmouth bodies, but his final finish was too high.
However, from that moment forward, the Lilywhites were largely second best and found themselves pinned by the visitors.
Their best opening came in the 78th minute as Adams’ close-range header was blocked on the line in a crowded penalty area with close by team-mates in blue and white unable to usher the loose ball in.
In the latter stages, substitute Makenzie Kirk spooned over Millenic Alli’s awkward cross at the near post as another half-chance went begging for Portsmouth.
Mousinho’s men did everything they could to take the game to their opponents but just lacked incisiveness with the killer final pass and finish, perhaps reflecting their lowly league position of 19th.
