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Grayson hails 'magic' Johnson

Image: Simon Grayson: Full of praise for midfielder

Simon Grayson believes his pursuit of Daniel Johnson is paying off after he hit his fifth Preston goal in the 2-0 win over Peterborough.

Johnson, who joined from Aston Villa earlier this year, opened the scoring on 37 minutes against Peterborough with a curling effort from outside the box. Jermaine Beckford wrapped up the 2-0 victory, their eighth win in nine league games, in the dying minutes. Grayson said: "Daniel Johnson looks like an absolute steal. He has quality but he can get his foot in as well. Most players in his position for his goal would've tried smashing it but he's just side-footed the ball into the back of the net. "The second goal was a great way to finish the game, it was great play from Paul Gallagher to get down the byline and pull the ball back and the goal will do Beckford the world of good. "We knew tonight would be tough. They are the hardest working side we've seen in weeks. They press you and turn you. We had to be on our toes. "We matched them and all our lads got their hands dirty. We looked like scoring goals and both goals were really good in quality. "Our goalkeeper has barely had a save to make, so I'm delighted and it's another clean sheet and two goals." After Johnson had given his side a half-time lead, Gallagher and Callum Robinson missed chances to double the advantage. At the other end Jack Payne and Jon Taylor both went close for managerless Peterborough, who fell to their first defeat in five games when Beckford met Gallagher's cut back to tap in. Caretaker boss Dave Robertson said: "I think they dug deep and gave us 100 per cent this evening. There were breaks in the game that didn't go our way "There were a couple of decisions that didn't go our way - we had three big penalty shouts from free-kicks and corners but that's what happens. "We went 4-3-3 and built up some pressure in the first half but we couldn't make it count. We've won four out of five so there is still lots of positives to take into the next game. "The final bit we need to work on is in the final third with our wingers and forwards. We're making chances and we need to start being ruthless when we get them. "We got several crosses into the box and if we keep doing that then we'll score goals. Preston are a strong side and we knew it was going to be a tough game so there's no shame in the defeat."

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