Relief was all around Deepdale after Healy scored to win the game for whites at the death of the match. It looked the same old story for Northend, when Salako punished PNE for holding on to a 1-0 win against 10 men.
But an upbeat Craig Brown looked relieved after they stopped a consecutive 5 match-losing streak after beating the Royals.
Craig Brown insisted that we should have won the game easily, saying: " At one nil Ricardo had a great chance to make it two nil. The TV people told us Keano's effort was easily in so it would have been unfair had we not got the three points."
Brown confessed the team needed the three points so badly to stay in contention of getting into the play-offs. He said: " It was a must win game for us because it's not just the confidence that leaks from the players, its also the fans support that you get when a bad run arises. We've brought back a bit of pride to them."