What Ryan Lowe said immediately after Preston North End's 2-1 win over Leeds United

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe felt players and fans both played a crucial role in the 2-1 win over Leeds United on Boxing Day.

The Lilywhites headed into the game as underdogs, given the respective form of the two Championship sides. But PNE put in a strong performance, with Alan Browne heading home the second half opener shortly after Illan Meslier had been sent off.

Leeds then levelled late on, with Pascal Struijk tucking home from the penalty spot after Dan James had been fouled by Ali McCann. But, bright spark Liam Millar went down the other end and curled home a delightful 89th minute winner. Lowe was proud of his players, post-match.

"Just off the top of my head, the performance was excellent with and without the ball," said Lowe. "I thought the lads were fantastic in everything they did and equipped themselves right. Sometimes you can be undone by moments of quality or decisions, but I thought they were excellent from start to finish - with and without the ball. We kept going right until the end and scored another fantastic goal. People will complain (about the red) card and if it was me, I'd say it was a bit soft. But, if you raise your hands - and I think it's a bit unfortunate for him - but for us, you cannot raise your hands and once that happens you have to keep going. We had to withstand some pressure and then went on and got the winner. It's the second header Alan has scored in the last few weeks, from another great ball from Liam. The second was well worthy of winning any game I think, wasn't it?

"So yeah, I am just pleased for everyone because when you are not getting results, people will question this and that but we've got to take that - it is part and parcel of football. I am pleased for the group because they've been disappointed by performances and results of late. They want to do everything they can for this football club. We are in it together and we'll continue to keep working hard. The (midfield) was key. Ali went in and did a job, looking after Piroe. We knew we had to do that and the game plan was executed. They are a good team and we didn't go toe-to-toe with them in terms of quality of passing. We went toe-to-toe with them in terms of aggression and being solid. We had to stand up to that today and do the dirty, horrible bits to get a performance along with the quality in the goals."

North End owner Craig Hemmings and director Peter Ridsdale had released a joint statement in the lead up to the match, supporting the PNE boss and asking for supporters to get behind the team for a sell-out occasion. Lowe was particularly pleased by the atmosphere as a result.

"Yeah, brilliant, and they did get that," said Lowe. "We've had that, haven't we? We cannot always fill it out because of the away end. Both fans counteract each other with their singing and our fans were roaring them on today. It was the Boxing Day, Christmas vibe and they got right behind the players, which was excellent. They got roared off the pitch at half time, which was pleasing for me because they knew what we were trying to do.

"We just couldn't quite put the ball in the net and I used that at half time, to say: 'Look, they've roared you on, now get them to go and roar you on again'. I know we have to do our bit on the pitch of course and we did today. But, they (fans) were fantastic, so a big thank you. We said at half time, including the lads, that we'd done nothing yet. We had a good 47 minutes and we had to go out and produce for the next 53 minutes. I am pleased with the lads when we conceded the penalty - the way they reacted, to get on the front foot again and get a winner. It was there for us to get and lo and behold they went and got it."