Nothing to do with the way he and assistants Ryan Kidd and Kelham O'Hanlon were all treated by PNE after serving the club with distinction.

It is all about Championship survival and Barnsley's battle to escape the drop.

Five games left to save themselves and Davey insists: "We have five cup finals left."

The Tykes went some way towards salvation with a 3-0 thumping of Watford at Vicarage Road on Wednesday night.

Anyone expecting a weary hangover from that FA Cup semi-final defeat by Cardiff City on Sunday got a big shock.

And Davey is confident his side can put their Wembley misery even further behind them with a good result against Preston.

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"We worked our socks off at Watford and that result was about a great team performance," said Davey, whose playing career was ended
prematurely at Deepdale by a back injury.

"We want to build on that now at Preston.

"We have been disappointed with how things have gone away from home and we have tried everything to get it right.

"Nobody is too good to go down and we have to continue and get the points that we need. That begins tomorrow."

Davey might have been leading his side out in the FA Cup Final on May 17 had it not been for a glaring miss by striker Kayode Odejayi at the weekend.

Trailing 1-0, the Yorkshire side deserved to haul themselves level in the second half. But Odejayi, clean through on goal, put his shot into the side-netting.

The Nigerian held his head in his hands and Cardiff went through to the final against Portsmouth.

But Odejayi, who prior to Wednesday had scored just twice in 40 previous appearances for the club, responded in the best possible way with two goals to sink promotion-chasers Watford.

"We always believe in him and he has answered his critics," said Davey after his side moved up four places in the table and at the same time relegated Colchester.

"He had the world on his shoulders over the weekend, but he came in with a big smile on his face on Monday morning and got his rewards.
"Centre-forwards live and die by their goal ratio, which has not been good for Kay this year.

"He knows that, but he works very hard. And he is a lovely lad.

"To bounce back from Sunday the way he did at Watford is incredible.

"Nobody is too good to go down and we need more points.

"That win at Watford was more important than the FA Cup semi-final.

This is our bread and butter."

Between them Davey, Kidd and O'Hanlon gave more than 20 years' service to Preston as players and coaches – O'Hanlon even served as caretaker boss between David Moyes leaving and Craig Brown arriving.

But the former Republic of Ireland keeper was made redundant, as was Kidd, in a round of cost-cutting. Davey left his job as youth boss in protest at the staff cuts.

The Barnsley boss has faced his old club twice since taking over in November, 2006, but both games have come at Oakwell.

Tomorrow he walks back into Deepdale accompanied by his backroom staff and striker Jon Macken who scored 74 goals for North End during four-and-a-half years at the club.

Macken did not play at Wembley because he was cup-tied from his time at Derby County. But he is expected to start against his old club – his third return to Preston – after netting six times in 24 appearances for the Tykes.

Inspirational skipper and 14-goal top scorer Brian Howard is expected to miss out after suffering a gashed ankle at Wembley.