While disappointed to have lost touch with the Play-Off spots, Jordan Storey feels it’s now important to finish the season strong.
Preston North End went into last Saturday’s meeting against Norwich City with the opportunity to close the gap to the top six to two points, however defeat made the gap eight, and that result was followed by a midweek defeat to Southampton.
There’s now just three games left on the cards this Sky Bet Championship season, with a trip to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday kicking those off.
Jordan said: “You want to keep yourselves in the mix until the end of the season so to almost have nothing to play for is a bit gutting with three games left, but regardless we still want to finish as high as possible.
“Anything from tenth is a good achievement, especially with what we set out at the start of the year so I think if we can pick up a couple more wins at the end of the season and finish as strong as we can it’ll half be a successful season I suppose, although we wanted to get promoted really.
“With five games left, Norwich was the big game and it was bitterly disappointing to concede in the last few minutes. If we get a win there then we set ourselves up nicely for four massive games but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.
“I think it makes it more difficult to accept when the run we went on at the start of the season was so good. Obviously it’s football and these things happen. We’ve got to finish strong this season and get ready for a tough season next year.”
North End come up against a QPR side this weekend still with a lot on the line, sitting just three points above the drop zone.
Martí Cifuentes’ side picked up victory in the reverse fixture at Deepdale, and another win this weekend could all but secure their Championship status, depending on results elsewhere.
For PNE, currently on 63 points, they have ambitions of bettering their finishes from previous years, with 61, 66, 61, 64 and 63 points picked up in the past five seasons respectively.
Jordan said: “You’ve got to be confident. They’re a team down there in the table so they’re going to give it a good go to secure safety for next year. Like I said, we want to finish as high as we possibly can.
“We don’t want to go out and end up not getting a decent result for the last three or four games and end on a bit of a damper, so we want to finish the season as well as we possibly can and at least go out on half a high for the start of next season.
“We can’t drop off the pace. All three are tough games. One’s fighting to stay up, one’s fighting to win the title, and the other’s fighting for a place in the Play-Offs so it’s three different challenges and three teams who on their day can obviously upset anyone and we’ve got to be on our A-game for all three of them.”
