PRESTON North End were victorious in their final home game of the season, ending the campaign on a high with a 2-0 win against Barnsley on Saturday.

The visitors came into the game with a place in the play-offs already guaranteed, an enviable position from Preston’s point of view as they were hoping for a play-off push of their own this season.

Pre-season predictions had Barnsley down for another campaign of possible relegation worry, with the South Yorkshire side having finished just a point above the drop zone last year.

But Valerien Ismael’s team have adapted to the unique demands of the current season better than many others hopeful of a play-off place. 

Their combination of long-ball and high pressing has troubled teams who have tried to play possession football on tricky, worn Championship pitches.

This has seen them barge ahead of teams such as Preston for whom loftier predictions were made.

“We knew it’d be a tough game — not one for the purists,” Preston’s interim manager Frankie McAvoy said.

“Barnsley are a big, strong, aggressive team that have done fantastically well to finish in the top six with two games to go.

“We knew this and we worked through it. I think we’ve got to give credit to the analyst boys. 

“They put together a package to say: ‘Look, this is the way we think we can cause them issues.’ I’m absolutely delighted for them.”

Barnsley have scored the second-most set-piece goals in the Championship this season, but these situations were their undoing on Saturday.

They failed to clear a Ryan Ledson corner, leaving Jordan Storey to poke home the first after a scramble in the box, while the second goal came via a Tom Barkhuizen long throw headed on by Storey and turned in by Ched Evans.

This was only Barnsley’s third loss in their last 20 league games, but was their second defeat in the last four. They face top-of-the-table Norwich in the final game of the season next Saturday.

“It’s a warning for everyone that we need to refocus and come back to our strength and intensity,” said Ismael.

“It seems that the guys switched off this afternoon which I guess is a normal human process.

“Now the good thing is we can refocus. We know what we have to do and will try to find the right solution against Norwich.”