Is this Preston North End's unsung hero responsible for success of former Newcastle United and current Leicester City goalkeepers?

They’re historically a club that doesn’t have too many players that standout compared to the rest of the division but that has not been the case when it’s come to the men wearing the gloves of late.

Last season Daniel Iversen won the club’s player of the year award and this season his replacement Freddie Woodman has a shout of repeating the feat – he’s also likely to be considered for the Championship team of the year and is one of the leading men in the race for the golden glove.

Even before that pair, Declan Rudd experienced one of the most consistent parts of his career as he finally nailed down the starting spot at Deepdale before injury ended his career.

The goalkeeping coach during that period has been Mike Pollitt, who has played a big role in bringing the last two stoppers to Deepdale. Whilst he does not want to take much of the credit, he admits that he’s been pleased with the way things have gone with North End’s recent ‘keepers.

Speaking to the Lancashire Post, he said: “It's not just the goalkeepers, there are lads in front as well. We always say it's not just the goalkeepers that keep clean sheets, it's the team. For me personally, at the end of the day you're the goalkeeping coach so it is quite rewarding.

"When I first came in I was working with Declan and we got him working consistently well. We worked on him coming for crosses from wide areas and I think we got him to the best in the league at the back end of that season for leaving his line. I was always instilling into him: 'you'll always get there'.

"Whether that was for taking the cross or punching crosses away, he had a lot more belief in himself.

"When Dan came in, I'd worked with him for a spell at Rotherham so I knew how good he was. When Dec got injured we managed to get him in during the January window, he did well for us in the back end of that season and then returned to the club for the full season last year.

"I don't need to say what he did, some of the saves he made last season were quite incredible. He was highly rated by everyone at the club including the fans. We knew we were going to lose him at the back end of last year, that he would return to Leicester and it would be difficult for us to get him back for a third season.”

With one goalkeeper leaving and another required, Pollitt already had a man in mind to work with this season, and got him.

Woodman, a former Swansea City loanee, had worked with PNE assistant boss Mike Marsh before in Wales so Pollitt used that to his advantage.

He said: "We started to look elsewhere and we knew Freddie was coming up and was maybe going to be available from Newcastle. I know he had a year left on his contract but he went to Bournemouth and he didn't play, we spoke to him when we played Bournemouth and Marshy had worked with him down at Swansea so we had that connection.

"We were fortunate that we did get him and he's proved what a top class goalkeeper he is this season. You can see that in his performances this year, we're delighted to have him and hopefully we can keep hold of him.”