Paul Heckingbottom is working his magic again with Preston North End player - it's doubly painful for Sheffield United | OneFootball

It's no surprise that this Premier League loanee is starting to find his feet for Preston North End - he's worked for the manager before!

Preston North End are ones to watch in the Championship right now, and they certainly were last weekend after their Friday night clash with struggling Sheffield United. The Lilywhites won 3–2 thanks to an impressive comeback after they found themselves 2-0 down after 16 minutes at home.

Central to this headline-grabbing victory were key performances from three Premier League loan players who are currently adding to their CVs at Deepdale.

Everton midfielder Harrison Armstrong was everywhere during the game and was given the Man of the Match award; Aston Villa winger Lewis Dobbin started the comeback with a fine effort from the edge of the box; and then there’s Daniel Jebbison.

The former Blade and current Bournemouth striker was subject to derisive chants during the portion of the game where United had the advantage, but he silenced the visiting fans with a thunderous header for North End just before the hour mark, to eventually seal the win.

Dan Jebbison was slow settling in at quick-starting Preston

Preston have absolutely been a surprise package in the Championship so far this season. In 2024/25, they had a calamitous final eight games to the season that saw them slip from mid-table and into a relegation battle, which they narrowly escaped with a 2-2 away draw at play-off chasing Bristol City on the final day.

Few punters expected PNE to fare much better in 2025/26, but they have defied the odds since the second game of the season, when they took maximum points from a home game against heavyweights Leicester City.Since then, they’ve conquered the other newly relegated sides in Ipswich Town and, most recently, Southampton.They were also the first team to take points from Middlesbrough this season, and they had lost just once by the time of the October international break.

Before the first international break in September, the man in the spotlight at Deepdale was Milutin Osmajic. The Montenegrin was central to Preston’s early positive results, scoring decisive goals in all of their first three games, until an injury knock in the EFL Cup against Wrexham.

Since then, plenty of praise has been directed at other Premier League loanees for their goal contributions, such as Dobbin and Alfie Devine, whereas Jebbison has been quietly plugging away at Deepdale, playing and contributing, but for a while, he was just waiting to find that first goal or assist to hopefully open the floodgates.

Paul Heckingbottom’s continued faith in Daniel Jebbison is being rewarded

The current PNE gaffer has worked closely with Jebbison before, curiously enough, at Sheffield United. The two men were both at Bramall Lane between 2021 and 2023 during Heckingbottom’s managerial spell at the club.

Upon reuniting with the big Canadian, Heckingbottom said to PNE’s website: “I’m looking forward to working with Jebbo again. I’ve watched him play since he was a teenager and he was great to coach at Sheffield United.

“He‘s someone I always pushed to keep improving during our time together. I’ve always believed in his ability and his potential. I know how good he can be and we’re looking to get the best out of him while he’s here working with us.”

It looks as though that best is finally starting to rear its head. Jebbison got his first goal in Lilywhite right before the October international break, poking home from short range in a 2-0 victory over Charlton Athletic.

After two games to forget for Preston since the end of that same international break – back-to-back defeats to West Brom and Birmingham – Jebbison was again on target with a header that almost took Michael Cooper’s hands off his wrists against his former employers.

This run of two goals in four games looks good on the surface, but it goes even deeper than that. He also bagged the assist for Dobbin’s goal in the United game, as well as an assist for strike partner Michael Smith in the Baggies defeat.

He was conspicuous by his absence from Saturday’s impressive away win at struggling Southampton for PNE. In the aftermath of their 2-0 victory, the PNE gaffer told the LEP: “Yeah, just felt his hamstring. He'll not be long. He just felt it in training. We played Friday and he felt it in training, Monday, Tuesday. I don't know... will he be back Wednesday? Maybe not; we'll see Wednesday.”

Fans will be hoping that he is fighting fit for Wednesday’s visit of Swansea City, especially given the club’s extensive injury list that they have recently added Ali McCann, Andrija Vukcevic and Lewis Gibson to.

After struggling to establish himself at previous clubs, this could be Jebbison's big break

The former England youth international cut his teeth at Bramall Lane, with his most fruitful season in red and white being 2022/23 – from 19 games in all competitions, he scored just twice and managed a single assist.

During the portion of the aforementioned match where the Blades were in the lead, he was subject to chants of “Jebbo, what’s the score?” by the visiting supporters. He was more than happy to remind everyone on Preston’s social media what the eventual score was.

The sting of this comeback defeat will have hurt Sheffield United in more ways than one. Not only was the final nail hammered into their coffin by a man who used to wear their colours, but it has compounded their own dreadful start to the season that has seen them lose nine of their first 12 league matches.

Another Championship club who could be looking at Jebbison’s recent antics in front of goal with bemusement is Watford. They took him on loan for six months at the start of last season, but it was never a relationship made to last. In 13 games for the Hornets, Jebbison couldn’t muster up a single goal contribution.

Another camp who will be hoping this purple patch continues are parent club Bournemouth. The Cherries picked him up on a free transfer in the summer of 2024 after his contract with Sheffield United came to an end.

Given his two loan spells out to the Championship since that time, they don’t seem to think he’s ready for full-time Premier League football just yet. If Preston can continue to reap the rewards of his services during his spell at Deepdale, that opinion might change come the end of the season.