Dave Seddon’s Preston North End Press View: A season of highs and lows

Two unbeaten runs of some length, a sequence of away wins of which any team would be proud, two chunks of the campaign when they lost their form, so too a list of injuries which would not be out of place in an episode of Holby City.

Peaks and troughs was a phrase Alex Neil used when summing up the season in a recent press conference.

Mountains and valleys might have been an analogy more fitting.

The message from Neil is that things need to level out in 2019/20, both on and off the pitch.

More consistency will be required from North End in terms of their results.

Keep backing up the wins and a few draws but cut-out the losing runs.

Twice this season they lost four on the bounce, the same four teams inflicting those damaging results.

Reading, Leeds, Sheffield United and West Bromwich beat PNE in September and then again in the last few weeks.

However, let’s not forget about the times when the Lilywhites really showed the Championship what a good side they could be.

One defeat in 13 from drawing 3-3 at Aston Villa to beating Millwall 3-2, put the season on an even keel after their early struggles.

Then came the 12-game unbeaten run from January 12, through to the middle of March.

That run featured six straight away wins, a statistic which would not be out of place at the highest level.

The fact that you had to go back to the 1950s in the PNE history books to find a better sequence, shows how good it was. So while the temptation might be there to dwell on the fall out of contention for the play-offs, the strong runs either side of Christmas must not be overlooked.

Steering back on to the negative side of the road, you cannot overlook the pile-up of injuries.

Neil has been concerned enough to have an outside audit done, an assessment of workloads in the gym and on the training pitch.

Hamstrings seem to have taken the brunt of the injury woes, with a good half-dozen players having warmed the treatment table at some time or another to get that muscle tended to.

No team avoids injuries but PNE need to get them down to more manageable levels rather than having seven or eight players out at once.

Presuming no one sneaks back into contention for the trip to Brentford on Sunday, you could name a cracking seven-a-side-team from the injured list.

Andrew Hughes, Tom Clarke, Brad Potts, Brandon Barker, Tom Barkhuizen, Josh Harrop and Billy Bodin are all currently sidelined.

Presuming that Barker goes back to Manchester City, there are still six players there who can play a big part next season.

Add to their number Ryan Ledson and Ben Pearson, one of whom is suspended and the other being saved from a ban, and you’ve got at least one-third of a squad there.

The close season has the potential to be an interesting one, judging by what Neil has said in the last few weeks.

The boss signing his new deal seems to have been the catalyst, in the public domain anyway, to try and speed PNE’s progress along.

Neil’s desire to add some experience to the squad might mean a longer wait for all this summer’s business to be completed.

If you think back to the last two transfer windows, North End had deals done quickly – in January, Potts, Jayden Stockley and Josh Ginnelly were done before the Christmas decorations were down.

Connor Ripley wasn’t far behind, with Joe Rafferty done with more than a week of the window left.

Last summer, Ledson, Hughes, Jordan Storey and Graham Burke were on the books by the middle of June.

The majority came from Leagues One and Two, or the League of Ireland.

Ripley was from a fellow Championship side but had been on loan in League One at Accrington.

If North End go shopping a bit higher up this summer, deals might take that little bit longer to do.

Before any wheeling and dealing can properly begin, there is the Brentford clash to negotiate.

The Bees have not been the easiest of opponents in recent seasons, that said the reverse fixture in October ended in a 4-3 win for 
North End – a somewhat squeaky-bum one bearing in mind they led 3-0 after 
26 minutes.

I see similarities between Preston and Brentford, neither of whom are big spenders. The clubs landed in the Championship 12 months apart, the Bees beating PNE 1-0 in April 2014 to clinch promotion.

Last season, North End finished two places higher and four points better off than the London side.

The campaign before that, the Bees were a place and two points better off.

In 2015/16, there were two places and three points in Brentford’s favour.

The awarding to the Bees of a 1-0 walkover win over Bolton on Friday, saw them draw level on points and they have a better goal difference.

So it’s all to play for on the final afternoon.