Paul Heckingbottom acknowledged Preston North End were not at their best but was delighted with their gritty 1-0 victory at home to Hull City on Boxing Day.

Brad Potts scored his third goal of the season on the hour to earn his side their first win at home since Coventry on October 19, while the positivity generated after City's 2-1 win over Swansea City before Christmas evaporated with an eighth defeat in nine games to see them sink back into the bottom three.

City should have been a goal up inside five minutes when Regan Slater blazed over from close range after Joao Pedro's shot was saved by goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, and Ruben Selles' men passed up a flurry of other promising moments at Deepdale.

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“We’ve been far more dominant than that in so many games and only got a point, so I’m really pleased that we’ve come out on top when the margins are really fine," Heckingbottom said. “They have a really good setup without the ball, in terms of pressing, so we were not too bothered if they did have the ball - to try and throw them off a little bit. I felt we gave them a little bit too much respect at the start of the game and stood off them too much.

"As the first half wore on, we got better and had our moments, but we needed to up it in the second, and I felt we did. The goal is fantastic from our point of view; really pleased with it. Then we had to defend really well, and we managed the game really well to make sure we got over the line.

“I would’ve liked to be better with the ball. We did have some moments, the diagonal ball, because our space was wide. They set really narrow with that midfield three and front three, which made it really difficult to attack the areas we want to attack.

“I felt we were just slightly off. We didn’t quite get to the ball and we were a little bit behind the press. We stood off them a little bit too much, or that might be credit to them, but then, as the first half wore on, we got better and had our moments but we needed to up it in the second half and I thought we did.

“Until the goal, we were building momentum which was really pleasing and then the goal was fantastic from our point of view. I’m really pleased with it. Then we had to defend well and we managed the game really well.”