Republic of Ireland international Andrew Moran was part of a Preston side that ended a seven-game winless streak with a 3-1 Championship victory over Stoke at Deepdale.
The 22-year-old, who won the last of his three international caps against Senegal last June, was making just hs fourth appearance since joining the club in February and provided an assist for Alfie Devine to draw the hosts level at Deepdale after they fell behind to an early Stoke goal.
Milutin Osmajic and Devine again struck in the second half to secure the win.
Two players named in Heimir Hallgrimsson's Republic of Ireland squad for next week's World Cup play-off semi-final with Czechia - Preston's Robbie Brady and Bosun Lawall - were unused substitutes.
Stoke fans were lively from the off – filling three-quarters of the away end – and they were ecstatic when Thomas acrobatically slammed Junior Tchamadeu's cross into the floor and past Daniel Iversen for an early opener.
It was a nightmare start for the out-of-form hosts, however, they bounced back with aplomb 10 minutes later when Stoke over-committed bodies forward.
The visitors left every outfield player in Preston’s half as Devine ran onto Moran’s ball from inside his own half before squeezing a shot under the glove of Tommy Simkin to level proceedings.
Visiting supporters were up in arms after 34 minutes as Ben Whiteman clattered Thomas on the halfway line, with Preston looking light in defence, though referee Farai Hallam opted for a yellow card despite calls for a red, given the studs-up nature of the challenge.
Simkin could have done better with the opener and nearly handed Preston a second as he misjudged the flight of Andrew Hughes’ cross and the 21-year-old was counting his lucky stars as Osmajic failed to head on target with the goal gaping.
It was one of the best halves of football Preston have had at Deepdale since the turn of the year but Stoke almost equalised early in the second period as Million Manhoef looked set to stab a loose ball past Iversen until Andrija Vukcevic’s incredible last-ditch block.
After surviving that scare, Paul Heckingbottom’s side soon got a deserved third in the 57th minute with Osmajic making amends for his poor first-half miss by nodding home Lewis Dobbin’s pinpoint cross from close-range.
Two quickly became three for the rampant hosts as Osjamic turned provider, slipping Devine in behind a Potters defence that were all at sea and the on-loan Tottenham man delightfully clipped the ball over the advancing Simpkin to bag his eighth goal of the season for the Lilywhites.
Mark Robins’ men looked vulnerable to the counter-attack throughout and the early second half substitutes Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Sam Gallagher and Jun-Ho Bae left them looking even more defensively disjointed, allowing Preston to create that two-goal cushion and see the game out.
