Milutin Osmajic scored twice as Preston moved out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone with a 3-0 win over Watford at Deepdale.
Osmajic, last week charged by the Football Association with biting an opponent, responded to being brought into the starting line-up by boss Paul Heckingbottom by putting the hosts ahead eight minutes after the break, before adding a second in the 65th minute.
A superb Ali McCann strike subsequently extended the advantage with 15 minutes remaining as Preston registered only their second win of the campaign and moved up a place to 21st in the table. Tom Cleverley’s Watford stay eighth.
Heckingbottom made five changes to his line-up from Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Millwall, which included handing a first league start of the season to Osmajic, six days on from the FA charging the Montenegro international.
While North End director Peter Ridsdale had said in a talkSPORT interview that Osmajic, who is alleged to have bitten Blackburn defender Owen Beck during the 0-0 draw with Rovers on September 22, had accepted the charge, with no further statement on the matter having come from the FA the 25-year-old remained available for selection.
Kwadwo Baah made his first league start for Watford, and the former Rochdale man was played in one v one early on but could not finish the chance, with Freddie Woodman saving his shot.
Hornets goalkeeper Jonathan Bond punched away a Robbie Brady corner soon after, before Baah had another strike claimed by Woodman.
Osmajic then brought a fine one-handed stop out of Bond with a close-range header and further Preston pressure saw Brady and Kaine Kesler-Hayden send attempts off-target while Ben Whiteman had a low effort comfortably gathered.
Watford subsequently threatened in first-half stoppage time as Festy Ebosele rifled over the bar from a good position.
Osmajic saw another header kept out by Bond in the opening stages of the second half, before Moussa Sissoko saw his cleared off the line at the other end.
Moments later, Preston grabbed the lead when Kesler-Hayden laid the ball from the right to Osmajic, who slotted past Bond.
And after Watford substitute Ryan Andrews saw a powerful drive pushed away by Woodman, Osmajic doubled the hosts’ advantage, finding the target as Jordan Storey drilled the ball across the visitors’ box.
Vakoun Bayo, another man brought on by Cleverley, was presented with a great chance to pull a goal back but could only shoot wide, before McCann completed the scoring when he cracked a stunning shot past Bond after the ball come to him from Whiteman’s free-kick.
