'I relished the moment at the end of the game to maybe give a bit back' - Why Preston North End win gave Wigan Athletic boss 'closure'

The Liverpudlian was making his first return to Preston as an opposition manager since leaving his post just one game into last season, after two and a half years in charge.

He was given stick by a section of the home support before, during and after the game, which Latics won 1-0 thanks to Harrison Bettoni's goal with 15 minutes remaining.

Lowe was noticeably exuberant with his post-game celebrations, enjoying a Jurgen Klopp-style first-pump routine as well as organising an impromptu team photo in front of the away end as the 3,500 fans behind the goal chanted his name.

Having insisted before the game that it wouldn't be 'all about me', Lowe opened up on the situation during an emotional post-match press conference.

"That was nice, I have to admit," he said of the celebrations. "I didn't want to do the fist pump, but the players were saying: ‘Enjoy the moment, gaffer’.

"Because when you leave a fantastic football club like this one (Preston)...I know some people see things differently, but I left on my terms, of my accord.

"I couldn't take it any further, and I passed it on to another fantastic manager in Paul Heckingbottom, and look how good of a job he's doing now.

"Hopefully I've been proved right with that decision, and hopefully they go on to reach the Premier League.

"But these are special moments in football, special nights...and when the fans are going 'woooaaahhh', you have to feel that and enjoy that.

"I've said all along that I'm here to make our fans happy and proud of their team. We're on a journey but, if they support us like they did tonight, we will get to where we want to get to.

"I'm not saying it's going to be any time soon, but I'm here for a long time...I've got another two and a half years left on my contract, and I intend to see it out...and then further.

"Because I want to take this fantastic football clubs to the horizons Preston are at now, and hopefully beyond."

On the reaction of some of the Preston support, he continued: "I don't mind banter, and I don't mind criticism.

"But when it goes above and beyond that, it's not nice...for me or my family. Look, I'm a big man, and I can take it...but some of the criticism…

"Look, we did a fantastic job at this football club. Some people may not agree, and some of the football wasn't great at times, but we got results.

"To finish 10 points off the play-offs in the first and third years, and six points off in the second year...I thought it was a job well done. The decision to leave was one I took, nobody else...to take my journey somewhere else…

“You just get that feeling where...look people like me, dislike me... people don't know me to dislike me. They might dislike me because I'm in a mindset and I'm trying to win or whatever, that's just football. There's a lot of hate in football isn't there at the moment? Whether it's good, bad, indifferent. I'm not a hater, I'm more of a lover.

"I had seven months out of the game to recover, regroup, reanalyse, and reset. So at the end, it was a special moment...and I enjoyed it. If you're going to give stick, you've got to take it back...and I relished the moment at the end of the game to maybe give a bit back."

On getting 'closure' on his time at Preston, Lowe added: "Now it's done and dusted, I'd love to come back and support them, to watch a game, with friends here.

"I still have a lot of friends here, and I know there are a lot of fans who are appreciative of the job we did here."

The performance and result were certainly chalk and cheese compared to the 1-0 defeat the previous weekend at League One leaders Cardiff City, when Latics had barely laid a glove on the Bluebirds, and were indebted to Sam Tickle for not losing by a cricket score.

Lowe had acknowledged Latics had perhaps shown Cardiff 'too much respect' and, having pledged to 'give it a right go' at Preston, he was pleased with how things panned out.

"It's my job to build confidence in the team...build them up, and tell them how good they are...tickle their bellies, everything you have to do now as a head coach and as a manager," he said.

"And I'm happy to do that, because they are a fantastic group to be associated with.

"We went to Cardiff last week with a game plan to stay in the game for as long as we could, and it worked to an extent.

"But this was a different game, and a different game plan. It's a local derby, and we can't disappoint our fans when they backed us in such numbers.

"Something tickled me through the week...when I was hearing how many tickets we'd sold. I thought: We need to make sure we're on the front foot, and that's why I said in the press we were going to give it a good go.

"We absolutely did that, and the reward is a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup."