Republic of Ireland striker Sean Maguire scored twice on his return from a hamstring injury on Saturday to give Preston North End a 3-1 win over local rivals Bolton Wanderers.
Maguire has not played in the Championship since Preston’s 2-0 loss to Aston Villa at the start of November but returned on Saturday with a brace after coming off the bench as a second-half substitute.
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Maguire replaced Billy Bodin in the 65th minute and made an immediate impact after steering a near post cross inside the post and into the back of the net to give Preston the lead in the 77th minute.
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Maguire then sealed the win in injury time after guiding a deflected shot past Ben Alnwick from close range.
Following his move from Cork City last year, Maguire scored three goals and provided three assists in his first 10 Championship starts.
The forward said earlier this week that he wants to get back to where he was before his injury and that he wants to contend for a place in the starting side.
“It’s touching distance away now, hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can be back in contention for selection,” he told the Preston North End website.
“Now I’m back in training with the squad and to get some minutes in the tank against Burnley was brilliant. Just to get the matchday feeling back, waking up in the morning and knowing you had a game, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and I’m just looking forward.
“I want to get back to where I was before, that’s getting myself back in the team and doing as much as I can for the squad and hopefully get back into getting goals and assists.”
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