Alex Neil: Points on the road crucial in Preston North End’s bid to reach Premier League

The Lilywhites make the short trip to Wigan Athletic tomorrow (12.30pm) having been unbeaten in their last four away matches.

Three draws at Cardiff, Leeds and Blackburn Rovers were followed by the 3-0 victory at Barnsley.

Bearing in mind they had lost three away games on the bounce before that, the recent form on the road has been a step in the right direction.

PNE boss Neil said: “There has been an improvement in the away form, there’s no doubt about that.

“We haven’t lost in four away games, while earlier in the season were losing them. We would like to do better, win more than draw, and we’ll be going to Wigan looking to try and win the game.

“If you look at a group of games together, it doesn’t always tell you the story of each game.

“We were excellent at Cardiff at the start of this run. At Leeds it was only an 89th-minute equaliser which denied us a win.

“Sometimes it has been the case of not capitalising on an opportunity.

“That is something that if we want to stay at the top end of the division we need to improve on.”

Tomorrow’s early kick-off at the DW Stadium is followed by another away match at Stoke on Wednesday night.

With trips to leaders West Bromwich Albion and then Fulham to come before the end of the month, a good spell of travelling will be important.

Neil’s options will be boosted by Paul Gallagher and Andrew Hughes having got through training this week.

Gallagher has missed three games with a groin issue and Hughes has not played since New Year’s Day when he suffered an ankle injury.

There could be a selection dilemma in attacking areas for Neil. He admitted ‘shoehorning’ players into the team in a bid for goals against Swansea last week.

Neil did no’t play a natural centre-forward, with Tom Barkhuizen operating as the main striker.

It might be he wants to use David Nugent, Sean Maguire or Jayden Stockley up front at Wigan to help North End get up the pitch.

If that is the case, one of the front four from the Swansea game will have to be left out.

By yesterday afternoon, PNE had sold around 2,600 of their allocation.

Tickets will be available on the turnstiles, cash only, with no price increase.

Some of the PNE fans’ groups have got together to encourage supporters to take flags to the game and give the away end a colourful look in front of the Sky cameras.