Brad Potts knows fine start to life at Preston North End could have been even better

The midfielder arrived from Barnsley for a seven-figure fee at the start of January and has not looked back.

He is yet to taste defeat in a Lilywhites shirt, his PNE debut coming in the 1-1 draw against Swansea that started Alex Neil’s side’s six-game unbeaten run.

Potts has scored twice in that streak, against Queens Park Rangers and Stoke, but freely admits he could have had even more.

The 24-year-old has seen good chances come and go and has hit the woodwork twice in the last week alone as he went close against both Bolton and Swansea.

“I have been happy with how things have gone,” Potts said.

“I’ve got a couple of goals but I’m actually disappointed because think I should have five to be honest!

“The chances I’ve missed are actually really good opportunities.

“I feel like I’ve missed a half-decent chance in every game.

“I’ve hit the woodwork as well, it’s just not been going in these last few games.

“I want to be chipping in with as many goals as I can.

“With my Barnsley goals, I’ve got nine this season, I want to make it to double figures and help the team as much as can.

“It’s about the team’s form though and when I signed I certainly would have taken scoring a couple of goals and winning as many games as we have at this point.”

The former Blackpool man’s arrival has coincided with quite the turnaround for North End.

Having been looking over their shoulder at the wrong end of the Championship at the turn of the year, Neil has now challenged his players to make a late run at the play-off places, his side currently eight points adrift.

The recent momentum continued in some style with a 3-1 win over Norwich at Deepdale on Wednesday night that knocked the Canaries off top spot.

“When I signed I remember looking and thinking, ‘We’re only seven points above relegation, we need to win a few games here’,” said Potts, likely to make his seventh appearance for the club against Nottingham Forest at Deepdale on Saturday.

“We’ve done that and now we’re looking at the other end of the table and the play-offs and that shows just how well we’ve done.

“We have won four games and have drawn a couple in a really good run.

“But we want to carry the momentum on and keep winning games and see where it takes us.

“Maybe people looking from the outside will think we’ve got too much work to do with the points gap but if we keep winning games we’ll be edging closer and closer to it.

“If you can put a run together there’s always that one team that can sneak into the play-offs and we want that to be us.

“Looking back, the position we were in when I arrived was a false one.

“But obviously we’ve had injuries and everyone’s getting back fit now and winning games just breeds confidence.”