PNE's youth team bagged their tenth win of the season against Wrexham after goals from George Miller and Mike Aspin.

Coach Jamie Hoyland featured a very young side at Springfields with three U16s - George Miller, Ryan McGreevy and Neil Dougan - in the line up, just 24 hours after 'Black Friday'; the traumatic time when the final decisions on the future of all second year scholars are made.

Though Phil Appiah and Nathan Fairhurst were offered professional deals, nine members of the youth team squad were told that they were going to be released at the end of their scholarships, so Hoyland was happy with effort his team produced in the circumstances. He explained:

"I was really pleased with the lads today, and I thought we did very well with this young side. Ryan McGreevy and Neil Dougan set the tone of the game up front working really hard.

"There weren't that many chances in the game because the windy conditions weren't conducive to that."

Understandably, the majority of the nine released players chose not to take part in the game so soon after the traumatic news. However, Tom McMahon and Mike Aspin decided to play and performed really well, with the latter scoring in the closing minutes.

Hoyland told PNE.com: "Tom and Mike have been a credit to themselves today. They've been brilliant and I said that in the talk at the end of the game how well they've performed when they've had a horrible day yesterday."

Looking to the future, it was new recruit McGreevy who created an opening for George Miller to put Preston ahead on 22 minutes. The former Manchester City youngster broke away and fired towards Wrexham's goalkeeper Chris Maxwell who blocked, but the rebound landed at the feet of Miller and he calmly side-footed the ball into the bottom left corner.

Danny Mayor then tried to find the Preston strikers after a pacy run forward but couldn't reach them.

PNE's goalkeeper Jack Cudworth provided a reflex save after half an hour when the Dragons' Matty Hardman cut inside and released a shot.

Obi Anoruo proved to be a thorn in the Preston defence but the striker never managed to overcome PNE's last men.

At the beginning of the second half, the Welsh outfit produced a dipping, swerving shot that narrowly flew over the crossbar before forcing Cudworth to produce two fingertip saves.

Moments later, Preston were on course to increase the lead when McGreevy set up Dougan but the linesman flagged for offside.

The Lilywhites provided a good account of themselves with some nice build-up play, but a misplaced final pass or offside flag perenially prevented the home side from carving out any clear-cut chances.

Aspin made a couple of super runs down the right lane, and showed that he still has a footballing future beyond North End when he converted one such dart into a goalscoring chance - blasting the ball inside the keeper's near post as the game wound towards a conclusion. A more than handy goal for the hosts, and one that meant the world for the full-back.

Wrexham pulled one back in injury time but Preston rightfully came away with the three points.

Aspin spoke to PNE.com after the whistle and claimed:

"I was delighted to get that goal. It was my last game and I was dying to get on the score sheet as a last contribution to Preston North End.

"I've been released from the club and next week I'm going to trials at other clubs. I wasn't meant to be playing today but I was only going to be sulking at home thinking about my decision so I thought it would be best to come and play and I think I made the right decision.

"Two years ago I was released from Blackburn and I had the option to play but I never did because I felt so bad but I think I'm a stronger person now and I wanted to play football to get it out of my system."

He described the goal: "The ball came bouncing to the half-way line and I just nicked in front of the defenders and headed it. I could see Ryan [McGreevy] giving me a one-two but as it came to me I just took it past the defender.

"No matter who was coming into the box I was always going to shoot because I was so determined to score. I just took the leather off the ball and thankfully it went in."

The player also commented on the overall performance: "We had a lot of U16s today and I think the team have got nothing to worry about for next season. They have a bright future and there are players coming through that are going to drive the team on."

PNE: Cudworth, Aspin, Quirk (C Barton 57), McMahon, Smyth, Collins, Mayor (Proctor 69), A Barton (Cook 84), McGreevy, Dougan, Miller. Unused sub: Proctor.

By Frida Larsson