Alfie Devine scored twice as Preston ended a seven-game winless streak with a 3-1 Championship victory over Stoke at Deepdale. The 21-year-old Tottenham loanee cancelled out Sorba Thomas's fourth-minute volley with a composed finish in the 15th minute and completed his brace with a delightful dink for Preston's third on the hour mark.

Milutin Osmajic headed Preston in front with his eighth goal of a turbulent season just minutes before Devine's second strike. Stoke fans, who filled three-quarters of the away end, 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.

After surviving a second-half scare when Million Manhoef looked set to equalise, Paul Heckingbottom's side soon got a deserved third in the 57th minute with Osmajic nodding home Lewis Dobbin's pinpoint cross from close-range. Two quickly became three for the rampant hosts as Osmajic 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.