EXCLUSIVE Ryan Ledson Preston North End column: Extended run in side is helping me find my form

Performing better has definitely coincided with getting a run of games at the end of last season, during pre-season and at the start of this one.

When you are only getting the odd start here and there, then finding yourself out of the team for a few weeks, it is difficult to get any sort of momentum to your game.

Once you get a run it’s up to you to show what you are about and hopefully I have done that recently.

I always knew what I could do, it’s about getting the opportunity.

Last month I signed a new contract which gave me that bit more security and the chance to continue playing here and kick on.

It was good to start the first game of the season against Swansea, although the result was disappointing.

There wasn’t much in the game I thought – we cancelled one another out for long spells but Swansea got the goal which mattered.

We know we have to be more ruthless going forward in order to score more goals and that is an area of our game we are doing a lot of work on.

The lads bounced back from that on Tuesday night when we went to Derby and won 2-1 in the Carabao Cup.

I was on the bench for that one with the gaffer changing most of the team from the Swansea game.

We played really well at Pride Park and everyone who played did themselves justice.

What a strike it was from Tom Barkhuizen for the equaliser. We all know that Barky is capable of doing that and as soon as the ball left his foot, you could tell it was on its way into the net.

Barky knows how to strike a ball, he won goal of the year last season and the one at Derby will surely be in contention this time.

Daniel Johnson got the winner from the penalty spot in stoppage time and if you are going to back anyone to step up and score, it is DJ.

The lad is ice cool when it comes to taking penalties, his technique a bit different.

I hear people talk about DJ’s goals and that a lot of them are penalties.

What I’ll say to that is we have to be in the box to win them in the first place so we do get into the right areas.

Secondly, penalties still have to be put away into the net and that is not as easy as people think.

DJ’s record speaks for itself and to have him as your first-choice penalty taker is brilliant. We’ve got Paul Gallagher too, he is excellent at taking penalties.

We go to Norwich next which will be a tough game.

They have signed some good players during the summer as they look to try and get back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

You’ve got to play everyone twice so hopefully getting them early can be an advantage.

There are going to be 1,000 fans in the stadium, with it being one of the games chosen as a test for the return of supporters.

It’s not a huge number but it is a big step forward in the grand scheme of things.

Things aren’t great at the moment with the virus, the rules about what you can and can’t do change a lot.

If we all do our best to stay safe, hopefully normality can return at some stage.