No pain, no gain says Preston North End stopper Ben Davies

Ben Davies sports a bandaged head during Preston's win at Charlton earlier in the month

The talented centre-back took a couple of painful blows for the North End cause in weeks gone by.

He missed the derby win over Blackburn with a jarred ankle and then on his return at Charlton, needed stitches in a head wound.

Refreshed from the break in action, the 24-year-old is looking forward to the busy schedule over the next month or so.

Davies told the Lancashire Post: “I made a tackle in the Leeds match last month and my ankle was dodgy after that.

“That is why I missed the Blackburn game later that week, I just didn’t have time to shake it off.

“You get knocks like that over the course of the season and the international breaks come in useful to get a bit of rest and help you recover.

“Against Charlton I got caught just above my left eye in a challenge.

“To be fair, there wasn’t a huge amount of contact but it caused quite a big cut.

“They patched me up on the pitch and it wasn’t really that painful.

“Afterwards, though, they had to put four stitches in and the needle made me feel a bit groggy I have to admit.

“Having the stitches was worse than getting the cut in the first place!”

North End make the trip to Derby on Saturday, with a visit to Hull following that next Wednesday night.

Alex Neil’s men then host West Bromwich Albion in front of the TV cameras on Monday, December 2, before they hit the road again to go to Queens Park Rangers the following Saturday.

Said Davies: “It’s a big week for us after the break but that is what you want. We are  doing well but nothing is won or lost at this stage of the season.

“If we keep on getting some good results and be in a good position at the turn of the year, we will be happy with that.

“This is our third season working with the gaffer and there has been progression all the way through.

“Even though we didn’t finish last season well, we got more experience and that is showing now.

“The home form has been very good this season and long may that continue.

“We seem to have started home games very well, scored early, and that has given us the platform to go on and win.

“The momentum has built from there and given us a lot of confidence.”

Davies and his team-mates will be well backed at Derby this weekend.

More than 2,100 tickets have been sold, with North End’s total allocation for the away section at Pride Park being 2,648.