Many Preston North End supporters have been heaping praise on David Nugent, and suggesting that he managed to come off the bench and change the game during their 2-0 win at Stoke City.

Alex Neil’s side went into the game looking to build on their 2-1 win at Wigan Athletic last weekend, and following Tuesday night’s results  knew that a win at Stoke could help them close the gap on second placed Leeds United to just three points and keep themselves inside the top six.

Considering Preston had delivered an effective performance in their win at Wigan last weekend it was little surprise Neil opted to keep the same starting line-up against Stoke, which meant that Nugent was again on the bench with Sean Maguire keeping his place up front.

QUIZ: Can you name the club these 14 ex-Preston North End players are playing for now?

However, Preston largely struggled to really get into their flowing best in possession during the first 57 minutes of the game, with Stoke delivering a resilient performance in their defence, which led to Neil opting to bring Nugent off the bench for Maguire to provide more a physical threat for the Lilywhites.

Nugent’s introduction almost immediately led to the opening goal of the game, with Alan Browne tapping home from close range following Daniel Johnson’s corner, and the extra physicality up front provided by the experienced striker helped the Lilywhites take control of the contest from that point on.

Tom Barkhuizen eventually grabbed a second goal of the game for Preston 15 minutes from time, and Nugent then helped to hold the ball up and prevent Stoke from getting any rhythm to force their way back into the game, as Preston ran out 2-0 winners.

Here then, we take a look at what Preston supporters made of Nugent’s performance from the bench against Stoke…