Goals from Danny Mayor and Ash Higgins helped Preston beat local rivals Burnley 2-1 - the second victory over the Clarets this week.

On Wednesday, PNE Reserves snatched all three points away after Ash Higgins scored the only goal. On Saturday he came on as a sub and only needed 20 minutes to bang in the winner for the youth team.

"They were always going to be two tough games and Jamie [Hoyland] asked us at the beginning of the week to win both," claimed the dual-goalscoring hero. "We've done that and I'm pretty chuffed with the team's performance."

The goal for the reserves was Higgins' first at that level, but with the youth team he has now reached a tally of 13 goals - turning into a nice-looking goal machine.

"It seems to be going well and hopefully I can just carry on scoring for the team," he added. "Every goal is a good goal to me and that's what I'm here to do."

Both sides set high standards early on, but it was Preston's Danny Mayor who showed most promise as he continually made dangerous darts forward with the ball. Mayor often adds a different dimension to the game, and it was only the previous lack of a goal so far this season that had prevented him from looking like a complete attacking player. However, on 26 minutes, the wait was finally over as Matty Mainwaring flicked on Sam Hart's cross and Mayor headed home.

"I'm really excited, really happy just to get off the mark," Mayor said.

"I saw Matty out-muscle the defender and Dean always tells me to get to the back post so I thought 'here's my chance to score'. I could even hear Dean shouting!"

The first half was pretty even, although Preston possessed the ball a little bit more and provided some sparkling football in the build ups. Unfortunately, the killer touch was missing for the most part.

The Clarets were struggling to get past Dominic Collins in the defence and when they finally did, goalkeeper Chris Thompson saved whatever was thrown at him.

However, Burnley beat Thompson three minutes from the break - smashing the ball into the top left corner. Thankfully, the North End keeper had a lucky escape as the linesman waved for offside.

The Lilywhites looked the more confident side in the early stages of the second half, but when Thompson spilled one effort, Burnley's Robert Turner quickly converted the rebound to level the game.

The remaining 25 minutes were a battle, with both teams breaking up each other's attacks, but it was PNE who pulled off the win with a cool strike two minutes from full time. Ray Shearwood, Tom Owens and Phil Appiah worked the ball nicely into an advanced position, and the midfielder neatly set up Higgins who simply tucked it away.

Appiah had a really good game but was quick to emphasise the team effort and admitted:

"We lost against them 3-1 a few weeks ago but now we bounced back. When we got that late goal we showed what we are like as a team, we battle hard and never give up.

"Personally, I want to play well every week but I'd like to think I have more to give."

Coach Jamie Hoyland was pleased with another win against the Clarets during a somewhat turbulent week and did not hold back his praise. He claimed:

"We have had a difficult week obviously with the manager [Paul Simpson] going and I said can 'we get two wins for the Club' - they got that.

"I'm very, very, pleased with the U16s we selected - Sam Hart, Tom Owens and Jamie Proctor - they all did well.

"Dominic Collins was very good at the back and Phil Appiah is getting back to his best. But, the big plus point today was Michael Conchie. His performance was fantastic and set the tone for what I want every player to do. He ran himself into the ground and played with quality.

"I'm also very pleased with the team's belief that we weren't going to lose, which has happened in the last couple of defeats. We held on for 1-0 for quite some time and then Burnley equalised but today the lads reacted like they wanted to win and got the rewards in the end."

PNE: Chris Thompson, Tom McMahon, Dominic Collins, Mark Bloxam, Ray Shearwood, Danny Mayor, Nathan Fairhurst (Tom Owens 77), Phil Appiah, Sam Hart (Ash Higgins 68), Matty Mainwaring, Michael Conchie (Jamie Proctor 80).

Bookings: Nathan Fairhurst (29).

By Frida Larsson