Preston boss Alex Neil praised his players after their 4-1 win over Rovers.

The hosts raced in a two-goal lead inside the opening 10 minutes through Tom Barkhuizen and Callum Robinson.

While Danny Graham made an immediate impact as a half time replacement, scoring in the 48th minute, goals from Louis Moult and Alan Browne ended hopes of a fightback.

Neil was pleased with how his side stayed composed and did not panic as they added two more goals in the final 20 minutes to seal the victory.

“I thought it was a good performance,” said Neil.

“We started the game great, scored two really good goals and then after that we protected what we had for a while, tried to hit them on the counter.

“I didn’t think we played away from pressure as well as we might have done at 2-0 but we got through to half time.

“The second half we actually started well but then Blackburn got their goal.”

The Scot explained his tactics once the visitors got a goal back.

He said: “At that stage I was thinking do we go for it or do we sit back and try to see the game out?

“We were really aggressive, we went after the game and deserved the win.

“We managed to win the game against our local rivals by a good scoreline and the lads played really well for large parts of the match, that was pleasing.”

Preston are now unbeaten in eight games and Neil was delighted to see the way his side responded to Graham’s goal.

“We really took the game to them rather than be happy with what we had,” he said.

“The most pleasing part of the game was how reacted after Blackburn scored.”

Neil explained his decision to start Declan Rudd in goal over Chris Maxwell.

“I didn’t take Chris out of the team. Chris was in the team and took himself out by getting sent off,” added Neil.

“Declan came in and we won 1-0 and got our first away win of the season.

“I thought he (Rudd) made an excellent save from Charlie Mulgrew’s free kick in what could have been a defining moment in the match.

“He had a good game and that is what you need from your goalies; to make big saves at big times.”