Preston North End boss dedicates win over Cardiff City to captain Alan Browne

Browne was due to be in the North End side that beat the Bluebirds, thanks to goals from Tom Cannon and Ched Evans, but his partner went into labour on the day of the game meaning the expecting father was on dad duties to welcome his new son into the world.

Lowe said: “He was on his way to us this morning and he was prepped to play, his missus started with the contractions and was ready to go. We don't want him to miss the birth of his baby because his missus wouldn't be happy with me!

"We're hoping everything is fine, which we expect it to be, and we've got three points for him and the family.”

Cannon scored his second goal for North End as he collected Greg Cunningham’s pass before firing into the back of the net, with Evans onto a rebound from a Ben Whiteman free kick to make it two in second half stoppage time – shortly after Jak Alnwick was sent off for a foul on Cannon that resulted in the set piece.

North End were not at their best in the first half but their improved second half display gave them the victory, with Lowe of the opinion that both sides were cagey during the opening exchanges, with his side missing just a little bit of composure.

He said: “The first half was one where both teams were a little bit cagey and there were turnovers from both teams. There were a couple of half chances in there. In the second half we asked the group to do one or two things a little bit better and we wanted to be more on the front foot, counter pressing a bit better and getting a bit more quality balls into the strikers and in the second half we did that.

"I'm really pleased, there were some good chances as well. Brad Potts has missed a sitter - I've told him that - Alvaro Fernandez has hit one where he's snatched at it, Ben Woodburn had one in the first half and he snatched at it. There were a couple of chances where we've snapped at it but I'm just pleased to get a win however we got it. Two goals from the two strikers, I'm really pleased.