The days and the games keep ticking by as the end of the season approaches at an unstoppable pace, and boss Alan Irvine is aware that victories have to start coming soon to make the remaining three months of the campaign as anxiety-free as possible.

Defeats such as the deflating last gasp reverse at Norwich last weekend do little to help the cause, but Irvine is sticking by his undoubtable policy of looking for the positives in every outing, as he exclusively explained to Whites World viewers this week...

Alan, you've had a week to reflect on that sickener against Norwich. Has your thinking changed in any way as the days have gone by?

"I'm still very dissappointed when I think about it, but we've done all our video work on that game, showing the whole group clips of that game, and showing individuals certain clips of that game.

"Hopefuly we'll learn from what we did well there, and hopefully we'll learn from what we didn't do so well. We now have to move on, and once we'd completed all the video work we knew that the game had gone, but we used the feeling we had in the dressing room as a motivational tool to make sure we don't have that feeling after a game many more times this season.

"We now look forward to the next game, and we look at the Coventry game as a team that aren't very far away from us, and a team that have just had a very, very good result."

How big is the double header against Coventry and Colchester within the space of four days?

"We've got 16 games to go - and they're all massive. It starts with these two. They're very big games, and the emphasis is on them because of the positions the clubs are in.

"They're not 'must win' games, because if we don't win those ones we've got another 14, but we certainly need to start winning a lot of the games we have left, so the sooner we do that, the better. It would be an added advantage, or a bonus, if we did manage to win both of these games."

At least we know we go into Coventry with home advantage, which seems to have done us proud since the turn of the new year.

"It has. We've had three very, very good home performances, and very good results in those games.

"We need to have a similar level of performance in order to get a good result against Coventry."

We go into the game this weekend with another goalkeeper, Grzegorz Szamotulski, on the books - what made you look to strengthen in that area?

"The situation came about because we found that Wayne Henderson was going to be out until the end of the season and clearly that was going to leave us a little bit vulnerable in the goalkeeping area. We looked at one or two possibilities in terms of bringing players in on loan, but the problem you've got when you bring people in on loan is that their clubs will insist that they play.

"Certainly, with the way Andy Lonergan has played in the last couple of games, that wouldn't be something that I could commit to. I spoke to one or two clubs on that basis, and came to the conclusion that bringing someone in on a short-term contract might be the best solution.

"He's on a contract between now and the end of the season, and we can look at the situation as we go along to see whether that should be extended or not, but for now it provides us for the cover and the competition in that position that we think that we need."

What was it that made you think he was the man for us?

"He's very experienced and he's played for a lot of clubs in the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. He's played at the top level in different counties around Europe.

"Obviously he's got a lot of quality, but he's come here knowing that Andy Lonergan is in possession of the jersey, and they have to compete for the spot of being our first team goalkeeper. It puts a bit of pressure on Andy, but that's the kind of pressure that players should thrive on.

"We became of his availability via contact from an agent advising that he was out of contract, and that was obviously an attractive proposition for us because he was someone we could bring in straight away, do it on a short-term deal, and not be committed to actually playing him.

"He might play lots of games for the Club between now and the end of the season, he might not play a game at all between now and the end of the season. We'll have a look at that."

It seems to have been a bit of a coup to get him because it seems that there were a few other clubs interested in him?

"Yes there were. He's come here because he knows the reputation the Club has in terms of being a platform for people to get to the Premiership.

"He's also come here because he also thinks that he can get in the team. I've said to him that Andy Lonergan has to make it very difficult for him to get in the team."

Find out whether 'Shamo' comes into the reckoning by taking up your place at Deepdale this Saturday. Buy your seat online at MyPNE.com or call the ticket office on 0870 442 1966.