Victory will remove doubts in Huddersfield Town players' minds, insists Carlos Corberan

On a night when questions were asked of Town, the hosts - despite producing an unconvincing performance which lacked fluidity and opportunities in the final third - dug in and were also happy to receive a slice of luck for the game's pivotal moment on 74 minutes.

It saw North End defender Sepp van den Berg divert the ball past Daniel Iversen under pressure from substitute Duane Holmes, who had been sent clear by Josh Koroma.

Town - with Naby Sarr excelling at the back - saw out the game to claim their first league win of the season and their first at the John Smith's Stadium since February 20 to ease some of the pressure on the shoulders of Corberan.

Ahead of the game, Town suffered disruption with Matty Pearson - who was down to start the game - having to drop out of the line-up after complaining of dizziness in the warm-up.

Recent signing Tom Lees was elevated to the starting line-up and had a sound debut, with the former Sheffield Wednesday captain and Sarr keeping the back door shut and restricting Preston to little on the restart after they had threee presentable opportunities in the first period but could not cash in.

Corberan said: "After the defeat we had on Saturday, it was important we reacted as sometimes these defeats can create some doubts and increase minds in the players' minds and this will help the team.

"Today was a game where we made challenges and played the game without any mistakes. The concentration level was higher as a team.

“That was clearly a necessary win. We created chances after we scored the first goal.

“We didn’t make many mistakes and defended strongly to get the three points. After the goal, we created our best chances through (Sorba) Thomas and Koroma.

“More importantly, we had the mentality to defend the result and secure the clean sheet.

“I must praise the spirit of the team. We lost Pearson and then (Danny) Ward, who felt unwell, so all three subs were necessary."