[themaclad]

Attendance: 16,797 (2,669 Leicester City fans).

Referee: Gavin Ward.

Just over a year ago we were on our way back from Swansea after a 3-0 loss, the caretaker manager we had resigned after that game, two defeats, no goals and two managers gone in the first week of the season, 12 monthes on four points out of six and have just beaten one of the clubs relegated from the Premiership.
Strangely though the main North End forum PNEOnline appears to be a place for utter negativity due to the lack of activity in the transfer window, bit strange given we have signed 10.
They still weren't happy with the draw at Loftus Road or scraping through against Barrow in the Cup,suspect yesterday will make them far happier.
Deserved the win, only time we looked like struggling was when they brought on 16 year old Jeffrey Monga, who created history by scoring to become the youngest ever goal scorer in the Chhampionship, the lads is a talent



Entertaininhg start, took the lead after 7 minuyes slightly fortunate to begin with, Leicester ball behind Pol V who had switched off, luckily ball into Iversen's hand, quick release to Pol V and his ball behind the full back into space for Devine to run onto, even better the City keeper decided to try and tackle him 25 yards from goal, he failed miserably and from he touchline Divine found the net.
City huffed and puffed, we defended well in depth, main danger came from Fatawu however his shotss/final ball were all over hit and all ended up going out of play.
We had chances to increase our lead OS missed his kick after good work by Divine, Smith great header looked like it was going in but went the wrong side of the post. Deserved lead at half time, started the second period well as well, Os just couldn't quite force the ball home after a cross by Small and a Smith shot hit the side netting.
Substitutions changed the flow of the game City had some quality on the bench plus a 16 year old prodigy, they got on top only denied a goal by an outstanding save by Iversen from Fatawu, but 30 seconds later were level Monga easily beat Pol V before firing past Iversen's right hand.
Ayew hit the post, Pol V substituted by Offiah whose pace and physical presence made it a little harder for Monga, then the winner, scrambled the ball away from the area, Os to Small, down the wing he went, ball into centre Os slides ball home.
Os denied a second later on by the leg of the keeper but no further alarms and our first win of the season


THE BOSS

Paul Heckingbottom felt his side put in a “very strong” performance in the 2-1 victory over Leicester City.

North End were deserved winners in the opening home match of the 2025/26 campaign, as Milutin Osmajić scored late to seal the three points.

Jeremy Monga had brought the visitors level, cancelling out Alfie Devine’s impressive early goal, but when PNE’s Montenegrin striker netted in the 85th minute, the huge celebrations it sparked extended into full-time as the club celebrated a first league win of the season.

The manager said: “Really good. I think it was a really good game from start to finish. Some really good goals. Competitive.

“We were excellent without the ball, but I thought we also showed a real desire to hurt them as well. And in all honesty, I felt when they equalised that we should have been more than one in front at that point, but I think the spirit then of the players [was great] and, our second goal, ultimately the winning goal, is really good from our point of view. The quality was fantastic.

“Then we created a couple more on the counter then at the end. So, yeah, I felt team-wise it was very strong and I also felt there were some huge individual performances in amongst that as well.

“As a collective I felt we deserved the win and that will always be our aim to be the better team on the pitch and make sure our collective is better than the opposition.”

The manager spoke ahead of the game about how the supporters are included in that. He urged the PNE fans to turn up in their numbers and ‘outperform’ the visiting fans, and they more than did that on the day.

The noise inside Deepdale was deafening at times and that energy was very much matched on the pitch, and the players and fans all got to celebrate at full-time after a brilliant afternoon's work.

Hecky said: “I felt everyone performed today and the fans were responding to the performance. It drove the players even more but there's going to be times and days and occasions where we need the fans to set us off and occasions like that are fantastic.

“As long as we're all one and united and we're pushing in the right direction and everyone's committed to what we're trying to do, we'll be OK.”

MARTI

The Foxes fell to a first defeat of the Sky Bet Championship season at Deepdale as Milutin Osmajić scored the Lilywhites' winner five minutes from time, after Jeremy Monga’s composed equaliser had cancelled out an early opener from Alfie Devine.
The 16-year-old became our youngest-ever goalscorer in the process, but it wasn’t enough to take anything back from Lancashire and Cifuentes cut a frustrated figure after the final whistle, especially with the manner of the goals conceded.

“We are very disappointed about the performance, not only about the result,” the Spaniard admitted. “I think the first goal we conceded was something that definitely we should do better with.
“We spoke about that they play with two strikers and they like have one target player to set and one to run. It looked very easy for them to put one ball in behind, the covers weren’t good enough and the way we handled the situation from there was not good enough.
“The game was always going to be difficult. Perhaps we did the most difficult without playing the best football. We managed to get [back to] the draw and then we were putting some pressure on in various situations. They score a counter goal that was a little bit a habit of the game.

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