Exclusive Sean Gregan PNE column

To treat the home fans to four goals was a real positive and I’m told that there was the first time they had 
scored four in a game since the play-off final victory at Wembley.

Last season, North End tended to win their games by ones and twos – this time more goals are going in and they are up to 42 from their 31 games which is decent.

Two of Saturday’s goals came from Aiden McGeady, and he also put in the cross for Callum Robinson’s goal.

I’ve talked about McGeady’s Premier League quality many times before in this column.

For whatever reason, his face doesn’t seem to fit at Everton and he was out of favour.

North End were able to bring him in on loan at the end of August and he is such an exciting player to watch.

Like any player, McGeady is benefiting from a regular run of first-team football.

It doesn’t matter how much ability someone has, it is hard to show that if you are in and out of the team and only getting a game now and again.

McGeady has now played 20 games for Preston and they are getting the best out of him.

I’m not sure what the summer holds in store, with McGeady having a year left on his contract at Everton.

But if North End could sort something out to get him back – whether that be on loan again or a permanent move – that would be great.

It was a superb business to get him here last August and it might need an even better one to do it again.

We will see what happens but for the time being, let us hope that McGeady can keep up his form and help North End stay in touch with the play-off places.

McGeady’s performance against Brentford probably overshadowed Daryl Horgan scoring his first goal for 
PNE.

That was a big moment for Horgan – as a winger or a striker, getting on the scoresheet for a new club is really important.

Horgan has settled very well since making the move from Dundalk, catching the eye with some good wing play and his assist in the Brighton game.

Being able to celebrate his first goal is another big step in that settling-in process and hopefully there are more to come from him.

What you want Preston to do now is back up the win against Brentford by beating Birmingham City on Tuesday night.

That is a big game for them and back-to-back wins can give you a good push up the table.

Birmingham have been struggling for results since changing manager a couple of months ago and they got well beaten at Sheffield Wednesday on Friday evening.

Saying that, North End will have to work just as hard as they did against Brentford if they are to get the better of Birmingham.