David Nugent knows EXACTLY where Preston North End are in the race to reach the Premier League ahead of Millwall’s visit

The 34-year-old striker came off the bench to play his part in the Lilywhites’ 2-0 win at Stoke City on Wednesday night.

That was a result which kept them in sixth place but edged them closer on points to the four sides directly above them.

Of the top six, North End and leaders West Bromwich Albion were the only sides to win in the midweek round of games.

Nugent said: “Although we focus on ourselves, I like to find out as quickly as possible how the other teams have done.

“As soon as the manager has finished his talk after the game, I get the phone out to check the results.

“At half-time at Stoke I knew how the games were going because they put the scores on the screen and I was out warming up on the pitch.

“Bristol City who are just behind us won, Fulham drew which was a good result, Sheffield Wednesday got beat and Cardiff won.

“On Tuesday night I watched Swansea’s game against QPR and it wasn’t the best.

“The hotel didn’t have the red button so I was stuck with the one channel.

“I managed to get the Leeds game on my phone which was more exciting.”

The Championship promotion race is certainly turning into an exciting one.

While at one point it looked like Albion and Leeds were romping away, both have had indifferent spells and they have been drawn back into sight.

The Baggies have started to pull away again but second-place Leeds are now only three points ahead of PNE.

Alex Neil’s men are in front of Bristol City going into the weekend games on goal difference, while they have a four-point lead on Cardiff in eighth.

It is shaping up to be an exciting run-in through to the end of the season.

The busy schedule continues when North End host Millwall at Deepdale on Saturday.

Said Nugent: “You can see that the Championship is very tight, everyone is closing up on each other.

“Every club has its own budget, knows what they can get in and works accordingly.

“In past seasons there has often been a team which stands out and pulls away from the rest

“Everyone is close this year, maybe West Bromwich are starting to pull away a bit again.

“Then it is second down to ninth or tenth who are in with a fighting chance.

“We have won four of the last five and have stayed in sixth, which shows how tight it is.”

Nugent was pleased to be involved in the Stoke game, coming on in the 56th minute.

That was sixty seconds before PNE took the lead through Alan Browne.

Tom Barkhuizen later doubled the lead, that goal created by Nugent’s fellow sub and ‘golden oldie’ Paul Gallagher.

“It was nice to come on and play,” said Nugent as he reflected on a 19th appearance of his second Preston coming.

“Sean Maguire started up front and he wants to work the channels and get on the ball.

“The way we were playing wasn’t really working so the gaffer told me to go on and try to hold the ball up.

“I thought I did that and it paid off. It was just something a bit different up there, another way of getting up the pitch.

“Gally did well when he came on. Myself and Gally have a lot of experience and if we can bring that into a game, we will.”

Millwall’s visit will see Nugent reunited with Lions boss Gary 
Rowett.

Nugent played under Rowett for a time at Derby.

“It was Steve McClaren who signed me for Derby but Gary got us to the play-offs in his first season,” said Nugent.

“He did a good job but then decided to move on to Stoke, which didn’t last too long. Gary has done really well at Millwall and got them firing.”